‘Grease’ @ The Firehouse Theatre
Photo by Jason Anderson/Pendleton Photography
—Martha Heimberg
Step out of the heat and into the high-performance A/C for the high-energy production of Grease at The Firehouse Theatre. It’s 1959; guys sport slick-backed hair and black leather jackets — and they love greasy food and greasy car engines. Chicks with determined smiles wear poodle skirts with poofy “can-can” petticoats in the busy, high-kicking halls of Rydell High School.
So, what are we waiting for? Go, “Greased Lighting” — go!
The 1972 Broadway hit, written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, has generated numerous revivals and national touring productions, plus the hit film version of 1978 starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as the romantic leads. This celebration of the angst and gritty triumphs of teenage peer pressure and first love has also become a happy staple of regional theater that invariably sells out opening nights — partly based on nostalgia for a simpler era, and of course on terrific music drawn from early rock and roll songs that older Grease fans — like this aged writer — actually danced to on prom night.
TFT artistic Director Owen Beans creates a tight, fast-moving production in Firehouse’s intimate 160-seat theater (a retrofitted fire station). He uses every square inch of the proscenium-style stage to pull off the show’s big ensemble numbers, with some 30 talented and youthful cast members, all “Shakin’ at the High School Hop.” The playful, all-out encore had everybody in the opening night audience singing along and grooving to the familiar dance moves elegantly incorporated into Caitlin Martelle’s exuberant and athletic choreography. Musical director Jason Philip Solis utilizes the pre-recorded score seamlessly.
Nathen Rubens as greaser honcho Danny Zuko sings a joyful “Summer Nights” with soulful soprano Mikki Hankins as goody-goody Sandy Dumbrowski, the girl he met on summer vacation and suddenly sees again in the RHS cafeteria. Oops! The two generate some real poignancy in the scenes where they’re figuring out how to match the summer personas they’ve invented to the roles they must take on in a tough big city high school. Or any high school!
Much of the fun of this complete version of the musical comes from the other kids sharing lockers at Rydell High. Rachel Carter is terrific as the deliberately slutty Betty Rizzo, who willfully spreads mean gossip and her shapely legs. This chick makes no apologies for being the school bad girl. Zack Matt Miller is a super hot lead dancer as Rizzo’s favorite smooch. He’a also the proud owner of a rusty car he’s gonna transform to shining chick bait in the upbeat male ensemble number “Greased Lighting.”
Jada Jay’s Marty belts out all her songs with a born blues singer’s assurance. She’s funny, too, smoking cigarettes and swigging Thunderbird at the pajama party, while bragging about her new diamond ring in “Freddy, My Love.”
Bryson Morlan is hilarious — and a zingy singer — as the class nerd Doody, fantasizing with shy charm about writing a rock and roll hit in “Those Magic Changes.” Jason Philip Solis twice brought down the house as the buxom and robust teacher Miss Lynch — and as Teen Angel, a winged advisor telling a pretty underachiever to get it together in “Beauty School Dropout.”
Kudos to scenic designer Logan Uhtenwoldt for the bright red student lockers and neon-framed stage, and to costume designer Dayna Ray Dutton for the Pink Lady jackets, flouncy petticoats, and all that shiny black leather.
Even if you’d prefer dental surgery to a reboot of your years in the harrowing halls of high school, you’ll still have fun greasing it up at The Firehouse Theatre over summer break.
WHEN: August 6-23, 2026
WHERE: TFT, 2535 Valley View Lane, Farmers Branch TX
WEB: thefirehousetheatre.com
