It’s one thing creating a popular drag show subject like Grease, we were hardly the first to put together a collection of songs and choreography and called it a ‘Grease Show’. Producing an hour long theatrical piece is a challenge, taking a, usually 20 minute, drag presentation, filling it out to the hour and giving it a number of levels for the audience to approach the story. Our reputation was comedy, subversion and costuming. Once again Jessica didn’t let us down.
Jess understands popular culture but it was a challenge finding satire and parody in a film which is, itself, satire and parody. We started the show with a Greece/Grease confusion bit. Once again the talented Damian Nicholas did our voiceovers and we started with a typical travelogue style opening: “nestled in the warm waters of the Mediteranean”, with some Greek Dancing by Christina Andrews who had a lighting change into Rizzo for the opening song.
Although Roxy was unable to travel, she contributed video as Headmistress, and we found some dialogue from an Australian film, “Hercules Returns” which over-accentuated the ‘ocker’ Australian accent. Gradually the show came together. For the School Dance segment we decided to run through a history of dance; from Rock n Roll, to MC Hammer. We even included the Nutbush, which we discovered is mainly an Australian thing and to our surprise, it didn’t get the roars that it did in Australia. (Another cultural difference was the Australian response to ‘What is it you can’t face’ by Mother Superior in Sound of Music Drag Show. Australian audiences hear “can’t” differently!).
The show polarised some of our critics. We received wonderful reviews mostly, but the occasional critic who had ‘discovered’ us with Sound of Music Drag Show, felt that Grease Lightnin’ was just a clever drag show, without the cultural critique and criticism they expected. Grease was not as subversive as SOMDS. It is hard to parody a satire. It was a fun show without deeper meanings.
The true measure though was the audience, and we sold out constantly. In the end we received the Forth Fringe Award for Best Show at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. With over 2,000 other acts, it was quite an honour for a little drag show from Melbourne.
Jimeoin opened one show
Costumes, Music and Props.
Greased Lighting
Amy Jane Roberts was my co-host at our Muse Bar night, and fortunately, a petrol head. Amy had an old Go Kart shell and with a coat of red paint, and a lightning bolt on the bonnet, we had our “Grease Lightnin’ vehicle. Armen the Lighting Man fitted some par cans for headlights and when the stage lights dimmed and the song started, we opened the curtains and wheeled out our ‘automatic, systematic and hydromatic’ vehicle with lights ablaze, lighting the audience It was quite a good gimmick, but in Edinburgh we arrived to find our stage car was a white, 1960’s Morris Minor, with no lights. Someone had made a good mistake, because the car always got a laugh when we wheeled it out.
Costumes, Video and Music
We had been burned badly by the copyright issues surrounding The Sound of Music Drag Show (I keep writing its full title since it was NOT “The Sound of Music” in drag but a satire and parody). So with Grease we pursued all the appropriate agencies for clearance. Once cleared, we started putting the show together. One problem though was that we had to drop some of the original stage version songs, however the replacements were more comedic and eventually the soundtrack came together.
Damian Nicholas did our voiceovers again, and Roxy kindly did video inserts as the headmistress of Rydell High. A big thanks to Andre Switzer of Highway Vision, who was our expert camera man, director and editor, so Roxy joined us in Edinburgh in spirit at least.
Our most involved music editing and choreography was the School Dance. We made a list of dance crazes and the movements and music that accompanied them. We also used our own memories to include some ‘remember this one’ moments. The result was a hit with the audiences, and we had a memorable turn at the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh during the Festival, performing for about 700 people on 3 levels, perhaps 3 metres from us on stage. (a converted factory of some kind.). The roar of the crowd at times drowned out the music, but by that point we were so well rehearsed that we didn’t miss a beat.
Jess, Roxy and Kris had built costumes for PINK which were a little the worse for wear after almost 6 months on stage, and so most of the costumes were renewed for the touring show. One of the most striking sets was for Beauty School Dropout. Kris was the ‘Teen Angel’, in a full sequin suit and giant white hair, supported by four more angels with giant ostrich feather fans. It was a showstopper.
I must also mention our hardworking dresser Grant. He had an eye for fashion and so our presentations and costumes were always spot on. The pressure backstage never fazed him and he was an ideal travelling companion. Which is rather important when you’re hauling 40kg of costuming onto planes, trains and automobiles and exhaustion has thinned the social niceties.
Drags Aloud Evolves
The closing of Grease Lightnin’ was the trigger which made the four person Drags Aloud. Karen Koren had offered to manage us in the U.K. but the catch was that she wanted a 4 person troupe of Drags Aloud, and she knew who she wanted in the troupe. We argued the value of the whole cast for Grease, and them being needed for our next production, but Karen was adamant that four of us were all that budgets and logistics could support.
And so our next show – Drags Aloud At The Movies – didn’t involve Bunny or Christina unfortunately.