Kerry Butler, Ann Harada, Jackie Hoffman and More Will Lead VAPE! THE GREASE PARODY Benefit Concert

Vape! The Grease Parody will play a one-night-only concert to benefit the Entertainment Community Fund on Tuesday, March 11 at 7:30PM at The Town Hall.  Vape! is a hilarious send-up of the iconic and timeless musical Grease. The show pokes loving fun at all the wonderful moments, sexual innuendos, outrageous characters, rivalries and secret romances from the original, while taking a satirical look at the state of youth culture today, which may have evolved, but never really changes. 

Under the direction of Jack Plotnick (Disaster!, Space Station 76) and hosted by Seth Rudetsky (Disaster!, The Ritz, SiriusXM Radio), Vape! features a cast of stage and screen stars including Tony Award nominee Kerry Butler (Hairspray, Xanadu, Catch Me If You Can) as Sandy; James Carpinello (Saturday Night Fever, Xanadu, Rock of Ages) as Danny; Ann Harada (Schmigadoon, Avenue Q) as Jan; Emmy Award nominee Jackie Hoffman (TV’s “Feud: Bette and Joan,” Hairspray, The Addams Family, On The Town) as Rizzo; Aisha Jackson (The Notebook, Once Upon a One More Time) as Frenchie; Joel Perez (Fun House, Sweet Charity) as Kenickie; and Jelani Remy (Ain’t Too Proud, Back To The Future) as Sonny.

The performance is produced by Sketchworks Comedy and Visceral Entertainment, with Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley Jackson serving as creative consultants.

Vape! is a new musical by Catie Hogan & Sketchworks Comedy, with Lyrics & Additional Book by Billy Recce (A Musical About Star Wars; FIVE: The Musical Parody, Fowl Play) and Danny Salles (TV’s “Joan and Melissa,” “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List”).

After originally premiering in Atlanta in 2018, Vape! was scheduled to premiere in NYC in August 2019 at Improv Asylum. Ten days before the first performance, the rightsholders of Grease served Sketchworks Comedy a cease-and-desist letter, claiming Vape! violated their copyright. As a result, Sketchworks Comedy filed a lawsuit against Grease, believing that they were protected under fair use law. After a two-and-a-half year legal battle, Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York ruled that Vape! is, indeed, a parody.