Upstagers Theatre Group, The King’s Hall, Ilkley – 11th July 2018

GREASE really was the word at the King’s Hall as Upstagers took us back to 1950’s America with an all singing and dancing whirlwind of a show. This production was full of energy from the start and I was impressed with the sheer enthusiasm of the cast. The whole performance was sung and danced with great energy and obvious enjoyment from the whole cast – it was pure entertainment from start to finish.

Harry Hodge as Danny Zuko, was confident and delivered an excellent performance. What a talented young man! Complimenting Harry was Emily Brook who was just stunning as Sandy. She clearly showed the difference between innocence and naivety in the first half, and the more confident Sandy in the second half, and she certainly pulled off the transformation for the final song “You’re The One That I Want”.

Reece Raymond gave a very strong performance as Kenikie, maintaining the character throughout – and what a great singing voice. Harriet Dibb as the feisty Rizzo (leader of the Pink Ladies), was perfectly cast, oozing attitude in every scene. She has excellent stage presence.

Lois Brook as Frenchy did a superb job – a great cameo role. She brought great warmth to her performance and I particularly enjoyed the “Beauty School Dropout” scene.

The Pink Ladies “team” were complete with Alexa Clark as the “hungry” Jan (with some lovely comedy lines), Lily Normington as Marty and Alice Olby as Patty – these girls were obviously a close team and the sense of friendship clearly came across showing a strong bond between all the girls. They all gave outstanding performances.

The ‘T’ Birds all worked well together - Sammy Foster playing Doody delivered his musical numbers well, Joey Wilby as Roger was a very natural performer, along with a great performance from Tom Wood as Sonny it was clear that they had all developed a good on stage relationship with great banter and delivery. I would go as far as to say that all of these guys were born to perform!

Alex Wright as the gullible class nerd Eugene, gave a hilarious performance and was fun to watch.

There were great supporting roles from George Scaife as the super sleezy Vince Fontaine, and also the super shiny (in his silver suit) Teen Angel, Rob Durkin as Johnny Casino and Emma Victoria Smith as ditzy Miss Lynch. Clarrie Box played the role of Cha Cha with plenty of sass.

There wasn’t a weak link in the whole cast and a special mention must go to the members of the ensemble. There was a host of strong performances and great characterisations from every single person on stage. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and this was a key element to the show’s success.

This show is so packed full of songs as well as action - John Trenouth (Sound Design) must be congratulated as he ensured that everyone on stage could be well heard throughout both lib and song.

The set was effective – and the lighting wall gave stunning effects throughout. Scene changes were swiftly dealt with by a very hardworking stage crew – most impressive to see “Greased Lightning” gracing the Kings Hall stage!

All of this plus excellent costumes, hair styles of the era (well done to the guys as well as the girls!), it created an excellent setting for the performers.

Paul Nowland (Director/Choreographer) must be congratulated for this fresh, stylised and energetic production. Every number was extremely slick and executed brilliantly and the most important thing – everyone on stage looked like they were having terrific fun! I know that the audience certainly were and I hope our applause throughout the evening showed just how much we were enjoying ourselves!

Music was in the capable hands of Phil Walsh and his superb band who contributed to the success of the show – playing at a great level so as not to drown out the action on stage.

This was a superb show with excellent musicality, choreography and costumes making it an extremely pleasurable evening’s entertainment. Congratulations to everyone involved in any way.

REVIEWER – Sally Holmes (NODA Regional representative)