Olney Theatre Center Extends GREASE Through 8/28

Those summer nights are going to last just a little longer as Olney Theatre Center extends its production of Grease before it even opens. Bobby Smith returns to direct what can be called the original high school musical.

Grease will now play the Mainstage July 27 through August 28. There is a Pay What You Can performance on July 26 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $26 to $54, with discounts available to groups, seniors, military, and students. Call the Box Office at 301.924.3400 or visit olneytheatre.org for tickets and information. In addition, Olney offers several special performances that include sign interpretation, audio description, and post-show discussions. Please see the Fact Sheet
for more details.

It's 1958. Sandy Dumbrowski and Danny Zuko spend their summer days at the beach, and their summer nights falling in love. They don't expect to see each other again. When Sandy transfers to Rydell High, she's surprised to find Danny isn't exactly the guy with whom she fell in love. With Rizzo and the Pink Ladies coaching the wholesome Sandy, and Kenickie and the other Burger Palace Boys razzing Danny, who knows if true love will prevail.

Grease was first staged at the Kingston Mines Theatre in Chicago in 1971 - forty years ago. The co-creators, Jim Jacobs and WarRen Casey, were friends for seven years before they collaborated on the project. It was over a beer at a party when the idea first struck. Reacting against the "traditional" musical melodies, Jacobs and Casey amused themselves by imagining a new kind of Broadway, with music from the late 1950s, and characters from the golden days of rock ‘n' roll. Little did they know that their songs would become classics (and karaoke favorites): "Summer Nights," "We Go Together," "Greased Lightnin"....

Grease made its Broadway debut in June 1972, and ran for 3,388 performances and 20 previews. Two subsequent Broadway revivals were mounted in 1994 and 2007. The hit film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John proved to be the highest-grossing movie musical to this date.
Play the iconic roles of Danny and Sandy are David Bryant Johnson, making his Olney debut, and
Jessica Lauren Ball, who previously performed at Olney as Martha Jefferson in 1776. Johnson's credits include the title role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Arvada Center), Curly in Oklahoma! (Discoveryland Theatre), and Riff in Atlanta Symphony's West Side Story. Ball toured nationally in The Pajama Game, and has performed locally at Toby's Dinner Theatre as Laurie in Oklahoma! (2010 Helen Hayes Award nomination), Cinderella in Cinderella, Sister Amnesia in Nunsense, and Johanna in Sweeney Todd, among others.

Playing the Burger Palace Boys are PatRick Thomas Cragin as Kenickie, Parker Drown as Sonny, Dan
Van Why as Roger, and Alan Wiggins as Doody. All will be familiar to Olney audiences. Craigin played
Frankie in Forever Plaid last summer at Olney; he recently held the role of Kenickie in the National Tour of Grease. Drown performed as Dan in Olney's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He received a 2010 Helen Hayes Award for his portrayal of Angel in Rent at The Keegan Theatre. Van Why's Olney credits include Forever Plaid (Smudge), Peter Pan (Tootles), Tree Boy (Avery), and Big River (Judge/Lafe/Silas). Wiggins played the title role in Olney's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and has performed regionally with Toby's Dinner Theatre, PA Center Stage, and Shadow Block Productions.

The Pink Ladies are portrayed by Caroline Bowman as Betty Rizzo, Allie Parris as Jan, Maria Rizzo as
Marty, and Caitlin Shea as Frenchy. Bowman, fresh off the National Tour of Spamalot (the Lady of the Lake), is making her Olney debut, as is Maria Rizzo, whose local credits include Hairspray and Cinderella at Toby's Dinner Theatre. Parris returns to Olney, having previously performed in the Helen Hayes nominated Annie. Favorite roles include Fanny in Funny Girl and Helen in The Miracle Worker. Shea has been seen locally in Knuffle Bunny (Kennedy Center TYA National Tour), Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!(Imagination Stage), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Adventure Theater), and Drumming with Dishes(Arts on the Horizon).

Also making their Olney debuts are Delores King Williams (Miss Lynch), Matthew A. Anderson (Vince
Fontaine), and Abby Hart (Patty Simcox). Williams has performed locally with the Washington National Opera and the Lyric Opera, as well as in Showboat at Signature Theatre (Helen Hayes nomination) and with Capitol StepS. Anderson has been seen on such Washington stages as Ford's Theatre (Liberty Smith), The Kennedy Center (Shear Madness, Willy Wonka - The Musical), Theatre J (Rise and Fall of Annie Hall, David in Shadow and Light, Shlemiel the First), and Signature Theatre (Pacific Overtures). Hart, a recent graduate of Shenandoah University Conservatory of Music counts Amber (Hairspray), Hunyak (Chicago), Janet (The Rocky Horror Picture Show), Vibrata (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), and Erma (Anything Goes) among her favorite roles.

Vincent M. Kempski (Teen Angel), Ashleigh King (Cha-Cha Di Gregorio), and Kyle Schliefer (Eugene)
are all returning to Olney to perform in Grease. Kempski's most recent performance here was as Asher in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Other credits include Pirates of Penzance with the Washington Savoyards, The Greenwood Tree in the Page-to-Stage Festival at the Kennedy Center, and the My Audition Book cabaret at Signature Theatre. King, last seen at Olney in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, has performed regionally as Rumpleteezer in CATS, as Rizzo in Grease, and as Annie in 42nd Street. Schleifer's work with Olney includes Fiddler on the Roof and Peter Pan. He performed Off-Broadway in Songs for a New World with Grey Matters Productions. Local credits include Lost in Yonkers (Theatre J), Arcadia (Folger Theatre), Lord of the Flies (Round House Theatre), The Member of the Wedding (Ford's Theatre), and The Merry Widow (Washington Savoyards). 

Completing the Grease cast are ensemble members Jamie Ogden, Casey Rogers, Andrew Sonntag, and Carl Michael Wilson, and swings Jennie Lutz and Gannon O'Brien.

Director Bobby Smith helmed Forever Plaid last summer at Olney. He recently portrayed Rooster
Hannigan in Olney's production of Annie, for which he received a Helen Hayes Award nomination, bringing his total to eight. Smith has appeared on Broadway in Crazy for You, and Off Broadway in Forever Plaid (original cast), Kander and Ebb's The World Goes 'Round, and the revival of George Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing. National tours include Brigadoon and The World Goes 'Round. As an actor and director, he has worked at The Kennedy Center, Old Globe Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Theatre J, Imagination Stage, Barter Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Alley Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Mill Mountain Theatre, TheatreVirginia, Company of Fools, and Center Stage in Baltimore.

Working with Smith on the creative team are Ilona Kessell (Choreographer), Aaron Broderick (Musical Director), Robert Klingelhoefer (Scenic Design), Seth Gilbert (Costume Design), Charlie Morrison and Sonya Dowhaluk (Lighting Design), GW Rodriguez (Sound Design), and Renee E. Yancey (Stage Manager).

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