Grease: A Broadway Homecoming

Some musicals stick around with us forever and Grease is one of the best examples of this. Released in 1978, Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey was a successful hit in America and later on became one of the highest grossing musical to date.

The original Broadway production broke records and has been adapted for the stage in regional and community theaters, and high school and middle school drama groups; it has also been adapted two times in the famous musical TV show, Glee. It holds the record and remains Broadway’s 14^th longest-running show with an impressive stage history.

Starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, Grease was based on the 1950’s working class youth dealing with the complexities of young love as well as celebrating the passion they had for cars.

Grease has been a favorite in Pakistan as well and the musical adaption of this film is taking place for the first time ever. Nida Butt is the founder of Made for Stage Productions, which is famous for bringing the award-winning Karachi-The Musical, Chicago, Mamma Mia, and the Carnage.

She is directing Grease alongside her husband who is also the co-director of this musical. It is set to be on stage from 16^th January to 2^nd February at the Karachi Arts Council.

According to Butt, they are bringing Broadway home and their company is proud to have obtained the license for the Grease franchise, which is a huge step for Pakistan’s performance art industry.

Earlier, she voiced her concerns at the pre-event press conference which took place on 3 January at MAD school; bringing to light the lack of proper venues available alongside the difficulties they faced in having to ready props for a smaller stage.

During the conference, Butt stated “Grease has been a dream project – equally challenging and exhilarating. We are working with a super talented cast and a dedicated team who are working night and day to bring Grease, a show the audience will never forget.”

The production will be featuring Ayesha Omar as Sandy, Ahmed Ali as Danny, and Sanam Saeed as Rizzo. Sanam Saeed has been a regular on Nida Butt’s musicals and we are just as excited to see her on stage as we are to see Ayesha Omer play the doe-eyed love struck Sandy while Ahmed Ali plays the handsome protagonist who falls for Sandy.

With terribly high standards already set by earlier musicals directed by Butt, Grease will definitely be exciting, especially for the Grease fans here in Pakistan as they look forward to seeing a wonderful show with the live music and dance moves.