‘Grease’ to spend summer nights on stage at Ivoryton Playhouse

‘Grease’ rolls into Ivorytown, Golabeck at Hartford Stage

IVORYTON — Productions of “Grease” are common on community stages, but not so much on the professional level. There was that Fox TV network live version in 2016, but most fans still know it mainly from the 1978 film. (It had great music but laughable casting of a few 30-year-olds as teens. Stockard Channing was 33.)

Now comes a quite-professional Ivoryton Playhouse version of the Rydell High musical set in 1959, serving as upbeat summer fare through July 29, with performances Wednesday through Sunday at the playhouse. The show premiered Thursday.

“Grease” first opened Off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre in 1972 and earned seven Tony Award nominations. A 1994 theater version featured Micky Dolenz as Vince Fontaine. The film brought characters such as Sandy, Danny, Rizzo, Frenchy and Kenickie to the national radar and spirited tunes such as “Greased Lightnin’,” “Summer Nights” and “You’re the One That I Want.”

The production is directed and choreographed by Todd L. Underwood and musical directed by Michael Morris, with set design by Daniel Nischan; it features Johnny Newcomb (from Broadway’s “The Last Ship” and Ivoryton’s “Rent”) as Danny Zuko and Kimberley Immanuel (Ivoryton’s “The Fantasticks”) as Sandy. Alyssa V. Gomez (Rizzo) and Amy Buckley (Miss Lynch) also star and have Ivoryton ties.

Performance times are Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m., with additional matinee performances on July 14 and 28. Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $55 for adults; $50 for seniors; $25 for students; and $20 for children and are available by calling the Playhouse box office at 860-7677318 or visiting ivorytonplayhouse.org.

“Pianist of Willesden Lane”

Piano virtuoso Mona Golabek returns to Hartford Stage beginning Thursday for a limited engagement of her inspirational show “The Pianist of Willesden Lane.” The popular show will run for 13 performances through July 22.

“Mona’s performance is fondly remembered by Hartford Stage audiences, and I am frequently asked when she might return to Hartford,” said Michael Stotts, managing director of Hartford Stage, in a news release. “We are all delighted to get this chance to welcome Mona back this summer, to share her moving story, and experience her extraordinary talent.”

In the show, first performed at Hartford Stage in 2015, Golabek performs some of the world’s great piano pieces as she shares her mother’s story of survival. Golabek learned piano from her mother, Lisa Jura, who, along with Lisa’s mother, Malka, is the subject of the book “The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival” by Golabek and Lee Cohen. Director Hershey Felder adapted the play from the book. Tickets for performances start at $25. Call the Hartford Stage at 860-527-5151 or visit hartfordstage.org.

Anne Hudson / Ivoryton Playhouse Johnny Newcomb as Danny Zuko and Kimberley Immanuel as Sandy in the Ivoryton Playhouse production of “Grease.”

Berkeley Rep / Mellopix Mona Golabek returns to Hartford Stage in “The Pianist of Willesden Lane.”