1. End of Show (Grease)
Critical Review
Sally Kwon Grade 8 Drama class
The performance of Grease was performed at the annexe in BISS. The story
is about high school life and teenage love. The scene I chose was “end of show”,
where Sandy plans a make-over and gets Danny’s attention back. In this essay, I
am going to write about the two main characters, symbol, tempo/pace, lighting,
sound effects, costume, space and set design.
The first character I am going to talk about is Sandy, the female lead of
Grease. She used to be bullied and made fun of, but after Frenchy’s miracle
make-over, she turned strong and attractive. The actor who played was Monique.
She had good performance skills because she projected her voice well and could
be heard at all times but furthermore, she uses the tone and pitch of her voice. An
example of this was when she lowers her voice when being accused and bullied.
Her voice gets high when she is defending herself. She speaks softly and
pleadingly when talking to Frenchy. Her voice comes out more confident and loud
when singing with Danny to fit her new bad-girl look. The actor was also able to
use her moves efficiently such as swaying while enjoying the music or crossing
her arms when sad or shy. Also, when she gets annoyed with Patty she holds her
head high and slaps her to show her annoyance. Also, when she does a duet with
Danny, she holds Danny’s shirt to show that she likes him.
The second character is Danny, the male lead / Sandy’s boyfriend. Alex
played this role and he also had good performance skills. His voice was high and
confident, and used the tone to convey emotion. For instance, he first stutters
when his friends question him about his new look and when he invites Sandy to
his house his voice gets slick and gangster like to appeal himself. Also, his voice
is loud, confident, and goes well with the scene. He shows that he is a gangster by
the way he flails his jacket, and places himself in between his friends. He likes

2. them and wants to fit in. Lastly, he puts his arm around Sandy around the end of
the scene to show his affection towards Sandy.
Grease used various symbols.Different gestures were used to represent
different meaning. Dancing and jiving to the song meant that people liked the
song, and the fist bump represents their special friendship and strong bonding.
Sandy’s make up and metamorphosis meant that she became a strong and tough
person instead of a feeble and weak newbie. The duet with Danny and Sandy at
the end of the scene allowed the audience to understand that now the two are
together and they like each other. Clothes was used as the most important and
effective symbol in this scene, and I’ll talk about it later on in the essay.
There was some variety of pace in this scene. While Sandy was doing
Frenchy’s make over, the song was calm and slow because Sandy realizes what
she has done and what she has to do next. In contrast, the song “you’re the one I
want” has a fast pace because both the main characters want to express their
feelings for each other in an exciting way. The main tempo change happened in
the song and in the dialogues, the tempo variation was very small.
The costume played an important role of telling the time period where the
performance set in, affected the movement of the characters, and also played its
role as a symbol. As an example, Five male characters were wearing black leather
jacket, jeans, and white t-shirt and had their hair greased. The pink ladies had
their special jumper and black pants. Sandy however, was the only person who
had her own unique clothes - white cardigan and skirts. After metamorphosis, she
changed her clothes into a hard and strong looking leather jacket and pants. Her
overall impression changed from girly to tough. Other students were wearing
random clothes such as lab coat or hawaiian gown and others because they
didn’t’ belong to any group.
The rest of the features used in this scene weren’t as significant as others
such as the light music or space setting. General lighting was used (flood lights)
and in the solo scene with Sandy and Frenchy, the light starts with a blur and
fades int, then a single spot light shines at Frenchy and sets the solemn and
serious mood. The music helped telling the setting and time because all the music
was from the 70/80s. Also, in Frenchy’s repertoire, the music was ballad and the

3. lyric carried on the plot. Since this is a musical, music plays an important role of
replacing lines and telling the story. Lastly, the set design used blocks and
nothing else. The blocks represented benches and allowed actors to use different
levels, for instance in the last duet, the chorus stands on the blocks so they don’t
block the main character.
This musical was interesting and enjoyable. The actors played the role
pretty well and the music was fantastic. Costume, space design, lighting, and
many other items, even if there was the technical limit of performing in the
annexe, complimented and helped understanding the musical. I especially liked
the solo of Frenchy and duet of Danny and Sandy. Their voices were amazing. I
think it could be improved with better acting skills, even if they were able to
memorize all the lines and looked like they knew what they were doing, there was
something -I’m not sure what exactly- missing that made the difference between
amateur and professional. But except that, it was a nice and bright musical and I’d
like to recommend it to my friends because it’s about high school romance -
which is one of my favorite genre- and it’s well made! (and I was played part of
production :) )