We have to talk about the new version which, as most may know is the 4^th reincarnation of this show, which included a version at the Paper Mill playhouse with Leslie Kritzer. Original on Broadway was 1972 when it starred Adrienne Barbeau as Rizzo and Barry Bostwick as Danny Zuko. It started off as a bomb and then went crazy for a total of 3,388 performances. When I first saw it our gang dressed up in all the greaser and pink lady clothes, bought 40 seats in the Orchestra and had a blast. The next reincarnation was in 1994, which featured Rosie O’Donnell absolutely, ruining the Rizzo part and a fellow named Ricky Goldin played Zuko. Next was the wonderful movie with John Travolta, Olivia Newton John and Stockard Channing as Rizzo, which was a smash, and probably why everyone in creation wants to see Grease again.

So now we fast-forward to this past Sunday night when Grease reopened at the smallish Brooks Atkinson Theater to rousing applause. Well I still love the music! I love the dancing (wait until you see Born to Hand-Jive) which this time around is helmed by Kathleen Marshall (Wonderful Town, Pajama Game) who also directed the show and I still love the silly lines that are so antiquated that I laughed at every one of them. How many people don’t know "We Go Together", and "You're the one that I want " amongst a bunch of others! I guarantee one and all of you folks out there can hum or sing along to every tune!

Here’s the only downside. The fellow playing Danny Zuko, someone named Max Crumm, who won that silly contest, is, to be quite honest, horribly miscast. Horribly. In fact it almost ruined this edition of Grease for me and I would only go back if the understudy Josh Franklin performs. The distaff side (Sandy) played by a sort of unromantic Olivia Newton John look-a-like named Laura Osnes (who also won that awful contest) is fine in a really boring and thankless part. The rest of the cast including all of the Pink Ladies, The Sharks, and the Teen Angel are terrific so I’m very upset that the lead had to ruin the show.

The advance sales for this show is totally gangbusters even with a top ticket price of $121.50 so obviously, people really want to see this revival which is over the top with the big exception I talked about.

If you have never seen Grease, and unless you've been under a rock for the past 35 years you must have had to have seen one production, you will have a ball. Sandy, Frenchy, Vince Fontaine, Patty Simcox, Jan, Marty and everyone else are all there to love.

As Rizzo says "There are worse things I could do" and there are a lot worse things you could do then see this new revival of Grease