Welcome to Lexington High School's production of Grease: School Version. Once upon a time, Mrs. Dell said, "I'll never direct Grease! I don't like the message of the show!" Well, when the show was suggested to me for this year, I decided to give it another chance and checked it out one more time. After reading the show again, I realized it was a PERFECT fit for the current talent at our school. This show has been an AWESOME experience. The songs are FUN and just make you want to tap your feet and dance in your chair. Instead of embracing the idea that in this musical the girl changes herself to get the boy, I would like to challenge our viewers to consider this alternate message. Sandy has decided to take charge of her life and not be who everyone else thinks she should be, but to embrace who she is and celebrate it. By changing her appearance at the end of the show, she is challenging the restrictions of women in general in the 1950's and showing her peers that we should be who we are and accept each other as the individuals we are no matter how we dress. Our clothes, our hair, our money or lack thereof does not define who we are!
Thank you so much for attending our musical. We are so proud of it. I co-teach this class with Ms. Megan Whiting who serves as choreographer for the production. She is one of the easiest people to work with ever. Thank you Megan for your hard work on this show and your awesome choreography! Next, I must thank Mr. Kevin Mulligan. A volunteer parent who does more behind the scenes work than even I know. He helps so much with organizing the volunteers. dealing with ticket sales, etc. Thank you Kevin! I would like to thank the LHS administration and the fine arts department teachers for their support of the production as well. In addition, I'm not sure I've ever thanked a student before in these notes, but I MUST thank Anna Wehr, senior here at LHS who has stepped up to be our musical director and also plays Marty. Anna has taught these kids all of the music you hear on this stage and it was no easy task. Just listen to those harmonies! Thank you Anna for the extra time you have spent on this show. I want to thank all of the students and parents who have worked behind the scenes to help make this show a success. Musicals are HUGE undertakings and I could not do it without all of those helpful parents.
Finally, I would like to thank Shelby Pressley, our new 2nd theatre teacher. If you haven't met her yet, I hope you get to soon. She has amazing energy and passion for this program and has worked so hard on all of the technical elements to the production. Additionally, we have 2 tech theatre classes who have spent hours building, painting, finding and making props, costumes, set, posters, programs, etc. The list goes on and on. They have done an amazing job - thank you tech theatre!! Not only has Mrs. Pressley been a huge help for the technical elements of the show, but she has also been an even bigger support to me personally. Just to have an additional theatre teacher to run things by and get opinions on has been absolutely invaluable to me and my mental health. We have certainly become fast friends and I'm so thankful for her.
Now sit back, relax and enjoy our production of Grease: School Edition!
