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Grease is the one that they want

What: Grease Where: MY Place When: Thursday to Saturday, June 5-7 It’s hard to believe the graduation day of Danny, the T-Birds, sweet Sandy and the Pink Ladies was more than 30 years ago on Broadway in Chicago, and yet the story is still as coo

What: Grease

Where: MY Place

When: Thursday to Saturday, June 5-7

It’s hard to believe the graduation day of Danny, the T-Birds, sweet Sandy and the Pink Ladies was more than 30 years ago on Broadway in Chicago, and yet the story is still as cool as ever. Music TV channel Much Music airs Grease The Movie regularly. Local nightclubs who profess to play Top 40 music can be seen busting out the famous tracks You’re The One That I Want or Grease Lightning. And now more than 70 local kids – none born before 1985, mind you – have elected to turn their favourite movie musical into a dance spectacular, to run over three nights next week.

Get lost in soda pop, prom night and Rydell High rebellion with the talented cast and crew who brought you last October’s dance interpretation of Moulin Rouge. Eighteen-year-old director, Kathleen Duggan returns but she said it was predominantly the cast of her previous production that made Grease a reality.

"After the success of Moulin Rouge, all the girls were so excited to continue the magic and many more girls who came to watch the show also wanted to get involved, so it wasn’t hard to find an enthusiastic team," Duggan said.

So Duggan, a recent high school graduate herself, made room in her already hectic schedule (she’s at Capilano College studying Arts and Entertainment Management) to put on the show. Her sister Brittany is back in the lead role as Sandy and her dad is Rydell High school principal, who acts as the narrator between songs. Playing Danny is Sandy Tyler, one of only two brave males taking to the stage.

Duggan promised this year’s production of Grease will be bigger and better than Moulin Rouge.

"That was my directorial debut so it was exciting but a real learning curve. Grease is double the girls, double the props, and double the practice sessions, which we had a head start on anyway since most of us already knew the songs."

The Whistler cast of Grease range in age from 7 to 18, mixing first timers with some more seasoned performers.

"Some of the girls are seniors from the Whistler Dance Academy. They’ve just returned from Dance Power, a competition in the city, and it looks like they are going to proceed to the finals in Banff in July so it’s great for all of us to be working with dancers of that calibre," said Duggan. "The younger ones are learning so much from having them alongside."

Tickets to Grease are $9.75 for adults, $8 for teens and seniors and $5 for kids, from the MY Place box office: 604-935-8418. Showtime each night is 7:30 p.m. Dressing greasy and in style is highly recommended.