Grease Lightin Drag Show
Last year’s Drags Aloud show was a demented, sexed up Sound of Music with clever dance remixes, a Nazi musical medley and a complete bizarre overhaul of the plot. I was delighted to hear that they’d taken it from Melbourne to Edinburgh with much success.
This year they have attacked Grease with enthusiasm and greater adherence to the plot. The problem is there is not much you can do to sex up Grease, as evidenced by many of the excerpts of dialogue in the show. Grease is already a pretty outrageously tacky sexy musical and Drags Aloud had a ball with it. The only real transgression from the plot really was Rizzo having her baby, which was great fun, as well as the addition of some of Olivia Newton John’s classic songs, though they were used appropriately.
The best joke was probably the opening with a Greek dancer doing Zorba. It was less of a comedy cabaret this year and more of a sing along Karaoke night cabaret this year. Though I did enjoy the linking videos of an Eve Arden look-alike drag Queen playing the drunken school principal. The only impressive set in the show was the car for the song ‘Greased Lightnin’ Mostly it was black curtains, with the outrageous costumes taking the place of sets and the best number was unexpectedly Beauty School Drop Out. It was taken not from the movie but from a more recent stage production and was R & B & sexy!
For me this show could never surpass the superb Goodies parody that combined Grease and Saturday Night Fever in one episode. Tonight when Danny Zucco turned up to the Rydell School dance in full Saturday Night Fever gear and the theme pumped out you could feel the excitement jump like electricity through the audience but the music changed and they moved onto a monster medley of every dance craze ever. I think they missed a good opportunity there.
This was a good show for a fun night out of sing-alongs with your drunken friends. If you enjoy shows like Mama Mia etc that are short on original content and big on nostalgia this might be for you, but sadly I felt it was not as funny or clever as last year’s stunning show.
Visit the Fringe Website for booking details.