For this year’s fall musical, Marquette Theater Company (MTC) will proudly present “Grease.”
Judi Greene, theater director, said “Grease” was never a play she had a burning desire to put on, but she decided she wanted to do it before she retired.
“It really has become a classic,” Greene said.
This year, the lead roles will be played by Tony Rodriguez, senior, as Danny, and Gabby Mancuso, junior, as Sandy.
Greene said both leads are awesome, and that it was difficult to choose the 60 people who make up the cast because so many talented people tried out.
“We are blessed with how much talent we have here,” Greene said.
Rodriguez said he is excited to play Danny in his first lead role of an MTC play, and he is most looking forward to the singing, dancing and acting.
Mancuso had feelings similar to Rodriguez about being cast as the lead.
“I was shocked,” Mancuso said. “But pleasantly surprised.”
Mancuso said she is most looking forward to all the new people she will get to work with.
“There are a lot of new people on this cast who weren’t on ‘Hairspray’,” Mancuso said. “I am happy to get to know them because I don’t know a lot of them real well.”
Greene said she will enjoy many aspects of putting on “Grease.”
“It takes place in the 50s, which is always fun from a director’s perspective,” Greene said. “The music of course is really fun. Musicals are my favorite to direct.”
To make the play stand out, Greene said she wanted it to be very audience interactive so she deiced to make it into a sing-along format.
“I hope people leave saying ‘that was really fun’,” Greene said.
Overall, “Grease” doesn’t have any big message, Greene said, but what makes it very special is how representational it is of the time period.
“The late fifties were a very innocent time period,” Greene said. “It is so much fun to play that and show that time period.”
The play will run Friday, Nov. 11, through Saturday, Nov. 19, with a matinee performance on Sunday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m. Greene said that tickets should go on sale in mid Oct. A ticket will cost $6 in advance and $10 at the door. They will be on sale on the stage during all lunch shifts and in the Welcome Center anytime.