Grease
Music, Lyrics and Book by
Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
Additional songs by John Farrar, Scott Simon and Louis St. Louis
Additional songs by John Farrar, Scott Simon and Louis St. Louis
Directed by Jan Kuntz
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School, follows ten working-class kids as they navigate the complexities of love, cars, and drive-ins. The score attempts to re-create the sounds of early rock and roll. The show tackles such social issues as teenage pregnancy and gang violence; its themes include love, friendship, teenage rebellion, sexual exploration during adolescence and, to some extent, class consciousness/class conflict.
The show’s original, grittier 1971 incarnation has been described as either a musical from the start or a play with incidental music. In either case, it was first staged under the name Grease Lightning at the original location of the Kingston Mines in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. The script was based on Jim Jacobs’ experience at Chicago’s William Howard Taft High School (Chicago).
The show’s original, grittier 1971 incarnation has been described as either a musical from the start or a play with incidental music. In either case, it was first staged under the name Grease Lightning at the original location of the Kingston Mines in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. The script was based on Jim Jacobs’ experience at Chicago’s William Howard Taft High School (Chicago).
