PRINTHopelessly devoted to Grease
The fan favorite gets a singalong spin at the Missouri Theatre
Jennifer Ledbury
April 30, 2009 | 12:00 a.m. CST
In case you haven’t heard, Grease is the word. For all the John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John fans out there, it’s time to slick back that hair and pull out those poodle skirts. The Ragtag Cinema singalong event, on the big screen at the Missouri Theatre, swaggers into town May 2.
“I’ve never been to a singalong before, ever,” Columbia resident Juana Sanz says. “It will be fun, especially being there with my daughter.” Sanz has seen Grease three or four times and knows some of the lyrics. She’s been looking for an experience like this to share with her 9-year-old. “We can be silly together,” she says.
Participants will pay tribute to the ’50s and the land of diners, muscle cars and greasers, as Whit Loy describes it. Loy, director of development at the Ragtag Cinema, calls Grease an iconic film. “The reason people love it so much is because it pokes fun at a time in American history,” Loy says. “It boils the 1950s down into its most stereotypical and caricaturistic form.”
Columbia resident Dana Faler, 38, who considers Grease one of her favorite movies since she first saw it as a 7-year-old, says it is still so popular today because people can relate to the characters. Calling Grease the High School Musical of its time, she says, “It dealt with the cliques that are prevalent in every high school — being the outsider, trying to fit in.”
Expect to see Sandy and Danny look-alikes, but don’t forget about the supporting characters. Sanz says she and her daughter both plan to dress up. “My daughter has a poodle skirt,” she says. “I would probably be Rizzo, the bad girl, because she was the rebel.” There will be a costume contest for best overall costume, best character from the film and best beauty school dropout.
Beauty school dropout? “I’m going to leave that one up to interpretation,” Loy says. “I imagine they must have some really remarkable hair.” Don’t hesitate to use an entire can of Aqua Net.
For an extra treat, arrive early for the 7:30 p.m. preshow to watch musical interpretations of Grease numbers by MU’s a cappella group Add 9 and the TRYPS Children’s Theater. The preshow is intended to help viewers feel comfortable with belting out the tunes during the film. Jill Womack, executive artistic director of TRYPS, thinks people tend to be braver about singing along when they hear groups who can sing well. “It’s better than a bouncing ball,” she says.
Kanani May, the Missouri Theatre’s director of public relations and marketing, predicts an audience of a few hundred people at the main event. “It really is a unique experience that you’re not going to get at another multiplex,” she says. “It gives you a sense of community when you get to do it together instead of just watching the DVD in your living room.”
Although Faler can’t squeeze the singalong into her schedule, she remembers being surrounded by the Grease phenomenon from a young age — from songs on the radio to Sandy-wannabe girls wearing leggings. Faler first saw the movie at a drive-in theater. “At the end of the movie, people got out of their cars and were dancing,” she says.
Faler says people thought it would be a family movie, but it turned out racier than expected. The school dance mooning scene caused a shock. “I remember my mom literally slapping her hands over my eyes,” she says.
Musicals have been a hit in Columbia before with Mary Poppins and two showings of The Sound of Music that sold out the Missouri Theatre’s 1,226 seats. “The musical comedy has its roots in vaudeville, and you see that sort of shtick routine combined with these campy musical numbers,” Loy says. The Sound of Music audience members received goody bags that contained props to use during the film; for example, rice to throw during the wedding scene. Timothy Ponce won first place at one of The Sound of Music singalongs for dressing up as the frog the von Trapp children hide in Maria’s pocket. Ponce says he hates Grease, but he’ll still attend the singalong. “My previous experience was so fun,” he says. “Even though I’m not a fan of Grease, I’ll go because I’m a fan of costumes and public, drunken singing.”
So embrace your inner T-Bird or Pink Lady, and get ready for a singalong extravaganza. Props to anyone who knows every word of “We Go Together.”
GREASE SINGALONG
Where: Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts
When: May 2
Doors open at 7 p.m.
The preshow begins at 7:30 p.m.
The film starts at 8 p.m.
Price: $9 general admission, $7 for students
--Briehn Trumbauer
