It’s got groove, it’s got meaning
It’s the one that you want, says NATALIE BANYARD. Don your leather jackets and head to the Bristol Hippodrome as mega-musical Grease hurtles into Bristol, starring Peter Andre, who tells us he’s excited to return to the stage
AFTER being put on hold last year because of coronavirus restrictions, Grease The Musical is back with a wop ba-ba lu-bop a wop bam boom! The world’s best-loved musical takes to the Bristol Hippodrome stage this month with all the sing-along songs, awesome choreography, terrific costumes, talented cast - and the small matter of Peter Andre complete with angel wings!
After a whirlwind summer romance, leather-clad greaser Danny and girl-next-door Sandy are unexpectedly reunited when she transfers to Rydell High for senior year.
Friendships and love matches are formed between the T-Birds and Pink Ladies - but can Danny and Sandy survive the trials and tribulations of teenage life and find true love once more?
Directed by Nikolai Fosterre, ignite your passion and get ready for an explosion of summer loving.
Pop icon and TV star Peter Andre will be joining Danny, Sandy, Rizzo, Kenickie, Frenchy, Doody, Marty, Sonny, Jan and Roger, as Teen Angel and Vince Fontaine.
“The atmosphere is going to be, excuse the pun, electrifying,” says Peter. “I want to make up for lost time and make sure that every single show is going to be immense fun!
“We’re going to be so grateful to be performing and I believe audiences are going to be so happy to be back in a theatre. I’m sure I can speak for anyone who is going back on stage after all this time in saying how exciting it’s going to be. And Grease is such a great show to put a smile on people’s faces.”
Peter says he’s excited to be playing dual roles of Frenchy’s imaginary guardian angel (which he played in the 2019 tour) as well the slick, stylish and fast-paced disc jockey Vince Fontaine.
“I may even be doing a third role,” laughs Peter, “namely a police officer, depending on whether or not I can get changed on time. The more characters the better for me. Each one of them has a different accent, so I get to do different dialects, and it’s good to be acting as well as singing.
“With Vince Fontaine and Teen Angel, it’s a very quick change but I love the energy of that. There’s just one song, which I’m not in, during which I have time to get out of one outfit and into a completely different one, with the wig and everything. But it’s really good fun.”
Grittier and more glamorous than ever, the show has a famous and phenomenal score, bursting with hits including Summer Nights, Greased Lightnin’, Hopelessly Devoted to You and You’re the One That I Want.
“It’s a great score,” says Peter. “Even
though my main song is Beauty School Drop-Out,I also get to sing Grease with the rest of the cast and that’s such a great, iconic song that really gets everyone going.”
Spectacularly staged and bursting with energy, this show is a treat for all ages – fans of the iconic 1978 movie will be in their element and they can bring along their children (and in some cases, grandchildren) to introduce them to the joy that is Grease.
Peter says: “Everybody loves it. For me, as a child, there were two movies I watched again and again - and those were Back to the Future and Grease. Everyone can relate to being a teenager, whether that’s from a nostalgic point of view or if you’re a teenager right now or going to be soon.
“When I said to my kids Junior and Princess ‘Let’s watch the movie Grease, it’s brilliant’ before I went on stage with it they were like ‘No thanks, it’s not our type of thing’. Then they came to see me in the show one night and suddenly they were like ‘We love this, let’s watch the movie’. It’s come full circle.
“The new generation see the stage show and then go and watch the movie, whereas the old generation have seen the movie and now they want to go and watch the stage show.
“There’s a glamour to the teenagers in Grease, though, and that’s another draw; it’s set in sunny America, whereas you might have grown up in wet and windy England.”
Father-of-four Peter made his professional debut as a contestant on Australia’s New Faces when he was just 16. He shot to global fame in the ’90s with his hit songs including Mysterious Girl and Flava and became the sixth highest-selling artist in the UK.
He has had numerous hit singles, two number one albums and toured all over the world, collecting a multitude of national and international awards along the way.
With many television shows and appearances under his belt, and with his Celebrating 25 Years tour now completed, the rest of the year sees Peter turn all of his attention to Grease.
“I’m so grateful I’ve had this career and I never take it for granted,” he says. “I remember being on tour with Bobby Brown as the opening act in Australia and at the time he was the biggest R&B star.
“There I was on stage with him and he was a megastar to me. I thought he’d be going for ever and I’d just have my five minutes of fame, so I look back and think ‘I would never in a million years have expected to have had all this’.
“I feel very lucky and luck does play a big part in it, as does staying with the same people; I mean, I’ve been with my manager for 30 years now. I think loyalty and keeping friends in the industry are definitely part of it.”
Grease hurtles into Bristol’s Hippodrome from September 21 to 25, and Peter says the city has a special place in his heart: “Bristol means a lot to me. My brother Andrew, who we’ve sadly lost now, used to live in nearby
Weston-super-Mare and we spent a lot of time in Bristol. It’s one of my favourite cities in England.
“I love the cafes and bars and restaurants and the way it’s set out, with all those hills.”
So, get ready Bristol – Grease is back. Round up your T-Birds, pick up your Pink Ladies and re-discover why Grease really is the one that you want.
Grease The Musical is at The Bristol Hippodrome from September 21 to 25. For more information and to book, visit www.atgtickets.
com/bristol