The Cast Photo by Dan Norman

However, the recent opening of their current production, Grease was an exception. The audience was glad to be there and eager to enjoy the show, but for must of us, our minds were fixed on the news that just two days before, Michael Brindisi, longtime artistic director of Chanhassen in his 37th year on the job, had unexpectedly died in his sleep. For many of us, Brindisi and Chanhassen had become almost impossible to separate, and the sudden loss of that talented, generous, gracious, and hospitable leader in our theatre community came as a jolt.

Brindisi directed this production of Grease–one of the more than 140 productions he directed at Chanhassen. The company quickly made the decision that they knew he would want–the show would go on. With its high spirits, bouncy score straight from the late 1950s, lively choreography, and powerhouse performances, the show cast its positive energy over the audience, making the evening a celebration, not only of a particular breed of wise-guy innocence that circulated among teenagers in 1959, but also of the ambition and first-rate execution that was as good as guaranteed when Brindisi directed a show.

Grease first sprung to life in Chicago, in 1971, created by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, with its Rydell High setting based on Jacob's memories of his years at Taft High School in blue-collar northwestern Chicago. The show, much raunchier than the version that made it to New York, played in in a small Chicago club where it was scouted out by New York producers who, after some sanitizing, quickly brought it to the Eden Theatre in the East Village of Manhattan and, by June 1972, to Broadway where it played almost eight years, passing Fiddler on the Roof to become, at that time, the longest running Broadway show ever.

The show depicts, with both affection and snark, the concerns and dreams among a group of ten working-class high school students in the waning days of the Eisenhower era. Among those concerns were cars, music, dancing, friendship, honor, dating, sex, and especially, fitting in. As for dreams, they were modest and devoid of lofty ideals–not a word about racial inequality, women's subservience to men, the invisibility of lesbian or gay students, or the degradation of the environment. No one had yet heard of Vietnam (on the world maps it was still marked as French Indochina), let alone worried about being drafted to fight in its jungles.

By 1971, all of those "lofty ideals" were being championed by young people coast to coast, raising the ideals of a generation, but also a sense of a past good and simple life that had gone off the rails. With Grease, Jacobs and Casey created an idyllic (even if one of the Pink Ladies does fret over a late period) look at that earlier time, setting off a spree of 1950s nostalgia that led from the stage to the movies (American Graffiti) to television ("Happy Days").

The driving narrative in Grease is about Danny Zuko, a member of a cool, though completely harmless, gang called the Burger Palace Boys, and Sandy Dumbrowski, a new girl at Rydell High. Sandy and Danny met over the summer at the beach, and had what was apparently a sweetly chaste romance, not knowing that they would end up at the same school. When Danny runs into Sandy there, he acts aloof, not wanting to betray his feelings of affection in front of his pals. Sandy, whose overall appearance and habits are of the clean, prim Sandra Dee / Doris Day mode, is out of step with the female equivalent of the Burger Palace Boys, called the Pink Ladies–with matching satin jackets to make sure everyone knows it.

The Danny–Sandy romance is off again, on again, off again, and so on, with other plot strands like tough girl Betty Rizzo's anxiety over that late period, Frenchy's decision to drop out of school and pursue her dream of going to beauty school, hotrodder Kenickie's goal of getting a set of wheels, all of them competing to win the hand jive dance-off at the school dance, and a challenge to the Burger Palace Boys to defend their honor against a rival gang (fear not, these gangs are powder puffs, nothing like the gangs in West Side Story). The resolution for Danny and Sandy has always been greatly disappointing in terms of women's self-determination, though there's a good chance that it reflects the realities of 1959 and it enables the show to end with a rousing closing number.

Like all the shows I have seen at Chanhassen, the action is briskly paced, one scene fluidly following the other and staged to draw our focus exactly where the next plot point is being made. There is never a moment when characters watch while others are center stage–every character is constantly engaged in some business or other that fleshes out their reality–Brindisi's master touch at work.

Choreographer Tamara Kangas Erickson furnishes the show with lively, athletic dance numbers, which the limber cast delivers with swagger, especially big numbers "Greased Lightning," "We Go Together," "Shakin' at the High School Hop," "Born to Hand Jive," "You're the One That I Want," and the finale, a reprise of "We Go Together" paired with "Grease." The songs "You're the One That I Want" (by John Farrar) and "Grease" (Barry Gibb) as well as the teenage equivalent of a torch song, "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (Farrar) were written for the 1978 movie based on the musical, and–having become hit songs in their own right–have been routinely added to productions of the stage show.

The cast up on stage does not look anything like a group of teenagers, so anyone hoping to have a good time at this production of Grease must suspend their disbelief and accept that even if they appear to be in their 20s or 30s, they are kids enrolled at dear old Rydell High. With that provision, the cast does a swell job.

Sam Stoll portrays Danny Zuko's ambivalence–whether to be the sweet guy Sandy met over the summer, or the tough dude his friends have come to expect–along with terrific singing and dancing. Dayle Theisen is a winning counterpart as Sandy, persuasively trying to maintain her integrity, yet wanting to fit in with the Pink Ladies, they being the girls who hang out with Danny's gang. Though it is never stated, it seems that must be Sandy's rationale for being with that particular group of girls, when she would clearly fit in more easily with others–again, one of the show's disappointments being the degree to which Sandy changes herself to suit the expectations of a boy. At any rate, Theisen delivers in the role, in particular shining with a heartfelt rendition of "Hopelessly Devoted."

Anna Hashizume is a standout as Rizzo, the tough girl who clearly has a backstory that longs to be told. Hashizume has a beautiful, rich voice, and issues a compelling rationale for the choices she makes in "There Are Worse Things I Could Do." Rush Benson, a regular company member in musicals around town, gets to show off his gifts as a dancer in the role of Kenickie, along with delivering the comic lines with panache. (The role will be covered by another gifted performer, Ben Bakken, March 4 - April 20). Alan Bach, who played the lead in Chanhassen's Footloose, is another swell dancer who brings flash and style to his moments in the spotlight as Sonny. Adam Moen ably conveys Doody's naïve (aka dumb) sweetness, while Evan Tyler Wilson and Suzie Juul, as Roger and Jan, are a delightful couple, discovering that they are well suited for each other, and making "Mooning" a surprisingly charming number.

The other two Pink Ladies girls, Angela Steele as Marty and Katemarie Andrews as Frenchy, both give solid performances and create a sense of their characters as individuals. The surprise entrance that brings down the house is by Kasano Mwanza as Teen Angel, who soulfully comforts and counsels a dispirited Frenchy in "Beauty School Dropout." Kim Kivens, as Miss Lynch, is always such a delight on stage that I wish the show gave her more to do. In the too-much-of-a-good-thing department, Maureen Sherman-Mendez, as dance contest interloper Cha-Cha Digregorio, could dial down her schtick by about half, and the talented Michael Gruber as teen-heartthrob singer Vince Fontaine taxes our suspension of disbelief as a character that is probably meant to be half his age, making his flirtation with the teen girls feel rather creepy.

Music director Andy Kust, another old hand at Chanhassen, leads a ten-piece orchestra that brings the rock and roll score to vibrant life. The physical production, with set design by Nayna Ramey, is simple, but makes good use of the Chanhassen stage and effectively depicts the show's settings, all of which revolve around teenage life. Some of the imagery suggests atomic science and space travel, a nod to the period's feeling of grand endeavors lying around the bend. Rich Hamson's costumes are straight out of the era, dispatched with a wink and a slice of wit. Tracy Swenson, designing hair and makeup, has also captured the 1959 zeitgeist.

Grease, with its record-setting Broadway run, smash movie version, hit songs that garnered lots of radio play, and two hit Broadway revivals, to say nothing of a galaxy of productions at regional theatre companies, community theatre companies, colleges, high schools, and even middle schools, is clearly a success story. Its continued popularity seems to stem from a lasting affection for the period it depicts, with its culmination of positivity following the end of the Great Depression and victory in World War II, and before the fissures of social and political discord lying below the surface began to reveal themselves in the sixties.

I am not among those who harbor great affection for that era (I may either be a tad too young or too old), so my feelings about any production of Grease depend on the caliber of the production and performances. On that score, we are in good hands at Chanhassen, with a winning production of Grease that entertains and lifts our spirits–qualities that are in demand in any era. The production is a glowing testament to Michael Brindisi's legacy.

Grease runs through October 4, 2025, at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, 501 West 78th Street, Chanhassen MN. For tickets and information, please call 952-934-1525, toll-free 1-800-362-3515, or visit www.chanhassendt.com.

Book, Music and Lyrics: Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey; "You're the One that I Want" and " Hopelessly Devoted to You" by John Farrar; "Grease" by Barry Alan Gibb. Director: Michael Brindisi; Choreographer: Tamara Kangas Erickson; Music Director: Andy Kust; Set Design: Nayna Ramey; Costume Design: Rich Hamson; Lighting Design: Sue Ellen Berger; Sound Design: Russ Haynes; Hair and Makeup Design: Lex Patton and Tray Swenson; Properties Director: Laura Wilhelm; Intimacy Director: Doug Schulz-Carlson; Technical Director: Logan Jambik; Production Stage Manager: Chloe Volna-Rich; Assistant Stage Manager: Jack Speltz.

Cast: Katemarie Andrews (Frenchy), Alan Bach (Sonny), Ben Bakken (Kenickie, March 4 – April 12), Rush Benson (Kenickie), Tommy Benson (ensemble), Cody C. Carlson (ensemble), Renee Guittar (Patty Simcox), Michael Gruber (Vince Fontaine), Anna Hashizume (Betty Rizzo), Suzie Juul (Jan), Mark King (ensemble), Kim Kivens (Miss Lynch), Tommy McCarthy (ensemble/swing), Adam Moen (Doody), Kasano Mwanza (Teen Angel), Audrey Parker (ensemble/ swing), Eric Romero (Eugene Florczyk), Laura Rudolph (ensemble), Maureen Sherman-Mendez (Cha-Cha DiGregorio), Angela Steele (Marty), Sam Stoll (Danny Zuko), Dayle Theisen (Sandy Dumbrowski), Tony Vierling (Johnny Casino), Evan Tyler Wilson (Roger).