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Travel back to the 1950s at MAC this week

Daily Journal Staff Writer

Poodle skirts, slicked-back hair, saddle oxfords and bobby socks are back in fashion this week at Mineral Area College as &#8220Grease” comes to the stage.

Reserved seat tickets are on sale at the MAC bookstore and at the door for $5 for adults and $2 for senior citizens and students.

The show is set in the 1950s, but nobody in the 25-member cast was around way back then. So, they’re having a great time traveling back in time to the days when Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee broke hearts in the movies and guys like Danny Zuko broke them at Rydell High School.

&#8220He’s an 18-year-old mixed up guy with a reputation for getting the girls,” explained Chuck Gallaher, the Belleview High School teacher who plays him.

Danny may be cool enough to get any girl he wants, but the one he wants isn’t so impressed when he &#8220plays it cool.”

&#8220I am a square,” said Jessica Murdick, who plays Sandy, the object of Danny’s affection. She dyed her dark hair blonde for the role and like the other girls in the show, had her hair cut in bangs.

Other than the fashions, Murdick admits the role isn’t much of a stretch for her.

&#8220I’m a lot like her,” she said. &#8220I really am pretty square.”

Sandy is perhaps too square for the coolest girls in school, the Pink Ladies, known by the pink jackets they wear.

&#8220They’re a group of girls who are close and they stick together,” explained Jennifer Stokes, who plays a Pink Lady with a passion for food.

Morgan Thurman plays Pink Lady, Marty, and served as the vocal coach for the cast. Dr. Kevin White leads the band. Paul Murdick and Tom Moon are in charge of sound. Dawn Aubertin is choreographer, teaching the group to dance the Hully-Gully, Cha-Cha, Bop and The Stroll.

They also learned the &#8220Hand Jive,” which the group performed on cue at the very mention of its name.

&#8220They’re awesome dancers,” said Aubertin. &#8220This is the fourth show I’ve choreographed. I guess you’d say it’s my hobby.”

One look at Jill Holtzmann and you know she plays a teacher who is tough. You can tell from that high hair and &#8220cat glasses.”

&#8220She has a reputation for being strict and she speaks with a proper English accent, but it’s kinda ‘nasaly,’” explained Holtzmann.

Renee Simmons plays &#8220Frenchy,” the good-natured, but not-so-bright Pink Lady who becomes a beauty school dropout.

&#8220The show isn’t really about anything,” she said. &#8220It’s just fun.”

Amanda Orzel, 14, and Julie Scroggins, 14, are among the younger members of the play. These Farmington High School students admit their poodle skirts and bobby socks wouldn’t necessarily fit in at their school.

&#8220I like the music and some of the fashions, though,” said Orzel.

With his slicked-back hair, black jacket, blue jeans and white shirt, Robert Dickey plays a member of the T-Birds, the coolest guys in school. He admits he doesn’t look a thing like the pre-engineering major he is.

&#8220I play Roger, who’s like the class clown and he has a large affinity for mooning,” Dickey explains, but, he adds, the audience shouldn’t worry.

Brett Tiefenauer is Vince Fontaine, the sunglass-wearing, radio DJ who thinks all the girls swoon whenever he’s around.

&#8220About the only thing I’ve got in common with the 50s is I listen to Elvis music all the time,” said Tiefenauer. &#8220I was raised on Elvis.”

Many of the songs from the movie that starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John are also part of the play. Audiences will hear &#8220Summer Nights,” &#8220We Go Together,” and &#8220Greased Lightning,” among others. Some songs from the movie aren’t in the show and there are other differences, too.

&#8220There is a lot of foul language, some suggestive talk and cigarette use,” said Justin Radford, director. &#8220They had some of that in the movie, too, but I think when it’s live on stage, it’s harsher.”

He said though the musical is set 50 years ago, the story is applicable to teenagers in any era.

&#8220The whole thing is a celebration of being a teenager, no matter what decade it is,” he said.

Radford is wrapping up his summer as a guest instructor/director at MAC, where he once was a student. He plans to return to California where he has acted in a number of productions to continue his dream of a life in the theatre. Look for him in the &#8220Beauty School Drop-out” number playing his own version of Frankie Avalon.

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