Review: Grease @ Montville

I went out to see Grease @ Montville last night. My expectations weren't that high, considering the level of Pippin last year.

We got there about 15 minutes before 8 and got in "line" for our tickets. It wasn't so much a line as it was a blob. The ticket table was also strategically placed between the two entrances so that the people who were trying to get in to the auditorium had to muscle their way through the blob. This disorganization was compounded by the use of assigned seating. It's a high school production, it's not like massive amounts of people are rushing to get tickets. It's also Montville, so it's not like people desperately have to see the show.

The whole assigned seating thing was dumb. They could've better spent their money on other things. If anything, they should've just stamped your hand and be done with it. Alas, we got seats in the back, not that it much mattered.

The first 15-20 minutes of the show, I was bored out of my mind. Not because it was bad, but because I had no idea what was going on. I had seen Grease a really long time ago, back in middle school I believe, and didn't remember and ounce of it. The poor accents coupled with poor annunciation and bad sound system left me lost. After the 20 minutes, they either lost their accent or I just became accustomed to their speech and was able to pick up on stuff.

The highlight of the production was this one girl in the chours. Of all the people on stage, she had the most "spunk" and "tenacity". Everyone else looked robotic and lifeless while she invigored energy and charisma in to every role, no matter how bit. It got to the point where we were scanning the chorus to find her, which wasn't difficult because she was so talented.

Come intermission, M and I had a bet going on what her name was. My guess was Megan Greener. M's guess was Lauren Mitrick. We both had a 1/17 or 5.9% chance of being correct. M actually had the higher percentage because there were two other girls named Lauren or Laura, raising her chances to 3/17 or 17.6%.

When the show finally wrapped, we were standing around waiting for Joyce to come out. While we were waiting, the Yao's came by and informed us that the girl was Lauren Mitrick. I don't know why, but I felt such a devastating blow. It was like my heart was struck by a sledge hammer and the pieces sunk in tar. I don't think any other defeat of insignificance affected me so.

10$, what a night.