Ryan Smith takes reviews the ELO’s Grease performance …
IT WAS a packed house at the Ardhowen Theatre on Thursday past for the latest production from Enniskillen Light Operatic.
After a successful production of ‘Anything Goes’ last year – a relatively fresh cast have taken on the classic, ‘Grease’.
The first thing that strikes you about this performance is that the cast is very young. In recent ELO productions there has been a healthy mix of ‘old and young’ but it certainly made a change this year with young people taking centre stage.
There is the obvious fear as such that the young cast may lack experience or indeed the nerve to perform such a well-known production; but those fears were eased fairly early on.
What struck me especially was the strength of those playing the roles. Fermanagh is a small pool and it’s fair to say that it can be at times difficult to fill roles with consistently strong performers; but ELO pulled it off.
Vocally, especially, there was rarely a bum note.
In case you need a reminder, Grease follows the on-off romance between ‘squeaky clean’ new girl at school Sandy, and Danny, the ultra-cool leader of the T-Birds.
The T-Birds and their counterparts, the Pink Ladies, are familiar from the classic 1978 movie with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
Back in Enniskillen, the leads, both very talented, Conor Hughes as Danny and Rosie O’Hare as Sandy appeared to relish the opportunity of taking on such famous roles.
There were no weak links – but particular crowd favourites included the fiery Rizzo, played by Ellen Cupples – and the nerdy Eugene played by Aaron Simpson.
The show included a varied stage set-up too.
It was an impressive directing debut from Ryan Moohan, who directed along with stage veteran John McCann and to the delight of the crowd, Ryan appeared in the show itself with a vocal solo as the teen angel.Overall, it was a Thursday night well spent. There were plenty of laughs, cheers – and genuine appreciation for the talent on show.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering: Yes, he gets the girl in the end. Grease runs in the Ardhowen Theatre December 13.