Review by Valerie Carter

The production of “Grease” that I saw last night at the Churchill theatre Bromley was very different from the ones I have seen before. This was the new Curve production, directed by Nikolai Foster.

For this they have reverted to the original 1970 script, which means extra characters and extra original songs which never saw the light of day in the famous film we all love so much, however they have included all the songs specifically written for the film. The best of both worlds you may think – but they were omitted for a reason. They just aren’t up to the standard of the others.

The most noticeable difference between this version and previous stage versions is that the boys’ gang are not “The T-Birds” but “The Burger Palace Boys”(Sounds like rivals for Deliveroo or JustEat). I can’t help feeling that anyone who goes to see this because of the hype about “starring Peter Andre” will be disappointed as he is only onstage  for about five minutes.

The rest of the cast are relatively unknown. Don Partridge and Martha Kirby play Danny and Sandy. Louis Gaunt is Kenickie. They are adequate. The better performances come from Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky as Rizzo and Natalie Woods as Jan. Also Ryan Anderson who seems rather wasted as Roger. Peter Andre led a “We Go Together” reprise after the bows and the audience loved it.

Grease continues on tour greasethemusicalontour.com and is on at the Churchill Theatre until 12 October https://churchilltheatre.co.uk/Online/tickets-grease-bromley-2019