The show takes its name from the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School, follows ten working-class kids as they navigate the complexities of sex, cars, and drive-ins. The score is a highly authentic re-creation of early, raw rock and roll, invoking early groups including Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Huey "Piano" Smith, Paul Anka, The Diamonds, ea Queens, The Cadillacs, The Mello-Kings, The Kodaks, The Penguins, and many more. In its record-breaking original Broadway production, Grease was a raunchy, raw, aggressive, vulgar show which has since been sanitized and tamed down by subsequent productions.
The show tackles such social issues as teenage pregnancy and gang violence; its themes include love, friendship, teenage rebellion, sexual exploration during adolescence and, to some extent, class consciousness/class conflict.
The show became the longest-running Broadway musical in history, until it was beaten by A Chorus Line, and went on to become a West End hit, a hugely successful film, a popular 1994 Broadway revival, and a staple of regional theatre, summer stock, community theatre, and high school and middle school drama groups. It remains Broadway's twelfth longest-running show in history. Grease Tickets will take you back to the Good ole’ days.
