Grease Analysis of characters and the narrative.

1. Grease Analysis
Grease is set in 1959 at Rydell High School. At the heart of the story is the romance between Danny
Zuko and Sandy Dumbrowski. They had a secret romance in summer, but now back to school, peer-
pressure and cliques make their love a bit more complicated. Danny wants to maintain his cool dude
status with the ‘T-Birds’ and still get Sandy. Sandy realises she has to change to be with Danny, she
makes a transformation and the couple go happily together.
Grease is a 1971 book musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Grease is extremely successfuland
ran for an amazing 3,388 performances on Broadway. Grease is a musical that is made for
entertainment purposes. It is considered to be entertaining as it reflects society within the 1970s. For
example within Grease there is: love, rebellion, peer pressure,gang violence, friendship and many
more themes that audiences find entertaining.
Throughout Grease I multirole and play Sandy for the first scene and Rizzo for the rest of the musical.
Sandy is a sweet, young woman who has just moved from Australia to America. Sandy wears very
feminine yellow clothes to represent her innocence and her naïve attitude to everything. She is good-
natured and treats everyone kindly but can be easily hurt. This is evident when she is rejected by
Danny and gets very upset that he isn’t what she thought he was like during the summer. Additionally
I play the contrasting character to Sandy who is Rizzo. Rizzo is a confident, popular and very sassy
character. She is not as bright and cheerful with her outfits as the other Pink Ladies, and wears
revealing and tight apparel.
I play the part of Sandy within the first scene of Grease. This is where Sandy meets the ‘Pink Ladies’,
sings ‘Summer Nights’ and meets Danny again. Throughout this scene I intend to portray Sandy as a
young, naïve and innocent character. I will achieve this by being very optimistic when I am first
introduced to the other girls, my facial expression will constantly be smiling and beaming throughout
this section to show I’m excited to have met new friends. Additionally my tone of voice will change
to energetic and enthusiastic on the line ‘please to meet you’ and ‘oh it seems realnice’ to portray my
eagerness towards new people and a new environment. Whilst performing the song ‘Summer Nights’
I will portray Sandy to be love struck, I will do this by gazing into the audience to infer I can see
Danny as I did in the summer, I will use hand gestures by putting my hands onto my chest to represent
I feela warmth when I think about Danny and I will have a persistent energy throughout the song to
reflect my feelings and emotions. Once the song is finished, Sandy gets introduced to Danny again
and is rejected by Danny as he is trying to play it cool: ‘Err…Yeah… see you around’. On this line
my body language will become isolated and enclosed to infer that I am hurt and upset. I change the
tone of my voice on the line ‘I don’t get it, he seemed so nice this summer’ to be devastated and
ashamed to show that Sandy believed Danny was a nice guy but shows she has been naïve.
Throughout Grease the songs and dances integrate all three art forms. Acting and singing are the most
frequent art forms within Grease with little sections of dancing. Each of these art forms create the
narrative to the musical. The relationship between these art forms are very important as they create the
musical. Many skills have to be applied to these art forms in order for them to link together. Whilst
performing there are certain skills that apply to all of the art forms such as: projection, this is
incredibly important within a song or dialect as the audience need to be able to hear what you say
whilst on stage,which means that your articulation on words need to be very precise. Articulation
helps with accents,especially Grease as it is an American accent therefore the audience need to
understand everything a character says so that the narrative makes sense. Characterisation is
extremely important within a musical as the characters need to be 3D, this is so the audience can
understand and relate to the characters in order for them to fully enjoy the performance. Additionally
characterisation ensures that characters are focused on stage so that they don’t miss cues or exits. For
example within the first scene of Grease when there is a split screen between the ‘T-Birds’ and the
‘Pink Ladies’ there is fast paced libretto in which the girls and boys are talking, however the lines

2. overlap, for example ‘Sandy: Did you say Danny Zuko?..... Danny: I didn’t say that Sonny!’ therefore
characters need to ensure they are focussed so that cues are not missed, otherwise it could slow the
pace of the performance.
Grease is renowned for its brilliant songs and dances. Therefore as a company the songs and dances
need to contain a high level of energy in order for the cheesy American 1950s era to be evident. As a
company there were a few songs that we worked on, these are:Summer Nights, The Hand Jive and
You’re the One I Want.
Summer Nights is the first number we worked on as a company. At the start of this process I worked
on my vocal ability. For this song I am playing the role of Sandy. The music director was able to pick
out my faults which were:my final harmonies. Summer Nights is renowned for the final two notes
that John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John incredibly sang in the film, version of Grease. As a
performer I am an alto therefore struggle to hit high notes. As a result I hit the high note for a brief
amount of time, whilst the ensemble hit the same note, as they hit the same note and hold it on, I
would harmonise with a lower note to create a three part harmony. After I had memorised the lyrics to
the song, choreography was added. There is minimal choreography to Summer Nights, it includes:
swaying in time to the music, step tapping and gliding hands over the other. Therefore the whole
number relies the cast creating an energetic atmosphere. Another song in which I applied backing
vocals and choreography was ‘You’re the One that I want’. The choreography for this dance was
easier to pick up than ‘Summer Nights’ as the beats within the song correspond to the majority of
movements.
My role as Sandy and Rizzo has helped me with production elements such as characterisation and
costume. Through characterisation I am able to show a distinct difference between Sandy being naïve
and innocent to Rizzo being sassy and confident. Sandy’s yellow innocent skirt and cardigan reflects
her naïve nature, just as Rizzo’s polka dot skirt reflects her wild attitude to life.
The relationship between myself and other performers needs to be strong in order for the production
to run smoothly. Cast members need to encourage each other to perform at the best of their ability.
Cast members help out with props and setting the stage. For example the transition from the sleep
over scene into the school dance needs help from most cast members and the transition needs to be
smooth and unnoticeable. I suggested for this scene change for a spotlight to be on the radio and a
black out for the rest of the stage,as this blackout happens cast members help take props off and help
set for the next scene.