CCHA Drama Department presents ‘Grease’ Friday through Sunday

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

When presenting a well-known and much-loved production, sometimes it’s best to give the people just what they expect.

The Charles City High School Drama Department’s presentation of “Grease” will be Friday through Sunday at the North Grand Auditorium.

Show times are 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5, and Saturday, Nov. 6, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Nov. 7.

The movie “Grease,” with the characters Sandy and Danny portrayed by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, is somewhat different from the original stage production that inspired it.

In fact, three of the popular songs from the film aren’t in the stage musical.

“The stage version doesn’t originally include ‘You’re the One That I Want’ and ‘Sandy’ or ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You,’” said head director Derek Sturtevant. “So we had to apply for permission to add those from the licensing company.”

Most groups that perform “Grease” now add those songs back in, said drama director Michelle Grob.

“Yeah, you can’t do it without those,” Sturdevant said, because the audience expects them.

Sturdevant and Grob said they picked “Grease” for the Charles City High School Drama Department’s fall musical because it is a big, well-known show.

“Coming off of COVID and having a down year where audience sizes were small, we thought this would bring a great audience and hopefully bring some people out to audition that maybe wouldn’t have,” said Sturdevant.

“It’s something to get people excited about theater. We’ve got a pretty large cast. We’ve got a good group of kids,” said Sturdevant, who is also the school vocal music director.

Grob said part of the discussion was also the possibility that the North Grand Auditorium might not be available for awhile after renovation begins on the now privately-owned part of the former middle school that is being converted into apartments.

“‘Grease’ we knew was going to be a pretty big show, that we didn’t want to have to do it in some other venue that was really small,” said Grob, who is the TAG, drama and musical teacher.

Portraying the roles made famous by Newton-John and Travolta are junior Harper McInroy as Sandy and senior Griffin Franksain as Danny, who both have experience in previous Charles City High School productions.

“I’ve always wanted to do a duet on stage, and now I get to do the classic, ‘You’re the One That I Want,’ so that’s like an awesome first start,” McInroy said.

Asked whether it’s easier or harder to portray such a well-known character as Sandy, McInroy said she thinks it’s harder.

“For ‘The Spelling Bee’ last year I felt it was a lot easier to become my own version of the character,” she said, referring to the high school production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” in which she played the role of Schwartzy.

“This year, you have to base it off of the fact that everyone has seen Olivia Newton-John’s version of Sandy,” she said. “I have to play into that as much as I can, so people recognize it.”

Playing such a recognized role has its plusses, too, she said, noting that many people have talked to her grandmother about her granddaughter playing Sandy.

“And I think that’s so cool, because there’s going to be so many people in the community that are going to remember the people who played Sandy and Danny in ‘Grease,’” McInroy said.

Franksain agreed about the challenge of portraying a role made iconic by someone else’s performance.

“Everybody has an expectation of how Danny Zucko should act, or how a song should go. You have to fit into that,” said the actor, who has accumulated a long list of roles through his young career, both in the high school and in community theater, including the lead of Robbie in the summer Stony Point Player’s production of  “The Wedding Singer.”

Sturdevant said there are places where the play differs from the movie, and they get a little more freedom to do their own interpretation, but on the big numbers and the well-known parts, “I think we’ve leaned into them, really. There are those iconic things that you expect to see. It’s pop culture.

“We’re in the business of entertainment,” he said. “Especially with this show, we’re in the business of entertaining people. Some things you do for arts’ sake. This is not one of those. This is, ‘Let’s get people fired up about it!’”

The two actors and the directors had praise for the visual aspects of the production, lauding the work of set designer Elissa Ellis and choreographer Amy Wolfe.

“It’s one of the coolest set designs I’ve ever worked with,” said McInroy.

Two dance numbers during the high school dance scene “are really phenomenal,” said Grob.

Sturdevant said the thing that has impressed him this production is how the students have stepped up into positions of leadership.

“It’s been stronger than we’ve ever had,” he said. “We have our stage manager, our assistant stage manager, our prop master, our student director — just a lot of student leadership, which makes our jobs easier.”

Grob noted that Franksain, in addition to playing one of the leads, is the student director, and choreographed the fight scenes in the production.

“He understands stage fighting better than we do. There are three stage fights, between Rizzo and Sandy, Rizzo and Kenneke and Sandy and Patty. Griffin is the one who has choreographed those. There are a couple of them that look really, wow,” Grob said.

McInroy and Franksain looked at each other sheepishly while Grob was talking about the fight scenes.

Asked if perhaps someone had accidentally made real contact while training for the fights, Franksain said, “We don’t need to talk about that,” but McInroy smiled and said, “He punched me in the face!”

“It was my fault,” she said. “I turned the wrong way and he full-on punched me in the face.”

Grob said anyone who loves the movie “Grease” will love this show, “but it is different.”

“The plot line is a little different and the music is a little different. It is still a wonderful show and will have the parts they love,” she said.

Reserved seating tickets to “Grease” are available online at www.showtix4u.com/event-details/57288. Tickets will also be available Wednesday and Thursday at the Charles City Arts Center, and at the door before the performances.

“Grease”

CAST

• Griffin Franksain – Danny Zucko
• Harper McInroy – Sandra Dee
• Emma Schmiedel – Rizzo
• Sydney Otto – Frenchy
• Teagan Prigge – Marty
• Sophia Jensen – Jan
• Anders Haglund – Kennicke
• DaShawn Griffin – Roger
• Breyer Ellison – Sonny
• Jacob Diers – Doody
• Sydney Hinz – Patty Simcox
• Elizabeth Olsen – Cha Cha
• Blake Hoeft – Eugene
• Raymond August – Johnny Casino, Teen Angel
• Susana Gonzalez – Ms. Lynch
• Eboni Patterson – Radio Singer
• Tyreque Baker – Vince Fontaine
• Kaitlin Heckers – Radio Singer
• Ensemble – Natalie King, Ella Jones, Jenna Aikey, Ellie Gassman, Elise White, Gracie Opp, Savannah Baldus, Emily Usher, Christian Hughes, Lillie Mohring, Reegan Severin.

CREW

• Zadie Pittman – Sound
• Hannah DeVore – Stage Manager
• Kirah Vickerman – Asst. Stage Manager
• Jadince Schuttler – Prop Master
• Natalie Keyes, Jocelyn Schoeneman – Spotlight
• Katie Prichard – Lights
• Crew – Shemaiah Lara, Emily Jones, Evelyn Read, Kristen Aikey, Kali Jones, Addison Tracey

PRODUCTION STAFF

• Derek Sturtevant – Head Director
• Michelle Grob – Drama Director
• Erika DeBruyn – Assistant. Director
• Elissa Ellis – Set Designer
• Linda Hughs – Costume Designer
• Amy Wolfe – Choreographer
• Sam Naumann – Pit Director
• Tricia Baxter – Accompanist
• Justin DeVore – Producer
• Lynn Baue – Hair and Make-up
• Griffin Franksain – Student Director
• Hannah DeVore – Stage Manager
• Sandy Peterson – “Beauty School Dropout” Costumes

PIT ORCHESTRA

• Shemaiah Lara – saxophone
• Polina Philippova – saxophone
• Katie Cross – bass
• Isaak Jensen – guitar
• Antonio Lopes – drums
• Tricia Baxter – piano