Monday, July 16, 2012

Grease is the Word

Last night Jlo and I went to the Hollywood Bowl for the Grease Sing-a-Long.
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grease 009The Bowl sits in the Hollywood Hills and dates back to 1922.  It’s such a beautiful location and, even though it’s been sweltering this past week, last night was cool, crisp, and very pleasant.
grease 014The original “shell” was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright but it has been rebuilt 2 or 3 times since.

Jlo is a rabid fan of musicals.  Me?  Eh, but I do LOVE me some Grease.  In fact, whenever I catch it on TV I hold my own sing-a-long sitting on the couch.  We found out about this event just a few days ago, but were able to still get decent tickets to the show last minute. 

Many arrived in costume…

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Since our attendance was so last minute we did not make it in costume…maybe next time.  But we did receive goody bags with the things we’d need for the show. 

grease 003Igrease 004Inside we found a comb (for the greasy hair), pompom (for the cheerleaders), yellow scarf (for the drag race), and bubbles (for beauty school drop out).  Jen made us practice ahead of time.

After the location and the acoustics of the bowl, the next best thing about visiting is that you are allowed to bring a picnic inside with you.  We stopped at Trader Joe’s on the way and picked up our evening meal.
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We forgot cups so we drove through a Jack in the Crack and “borrowed” some.

Before the movie started, there was a preshow.  Didi Conn, the original Frenchie, was the host. 
grease 077She explained when to use our goodies and sorted out the costume contest.   

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If you look carefully, you can see the Hollywood sign peeking out between the hills. grease 016 grease 017

Then the movie began…

grease 026 grease 027 grease 029 grease 030The singing started immediately with the theme song.

If you’re not familiar with the plot, here’s a quick run down.  Danny and Sandy fall in love at the beach the summer before their senior year of high school.  It ends up that Sandy doesn’t go back to Australia and arrives at Rydell High (which was really Venice High School my dad’s alma mater), the same school Danny goes to!!!    
grease 035Danny belongs to the T-Birds and Sandy hooks up with the Pink Ladies.
grease 033grease 034The best part of the movie is Summer Nights when Danny and Sandy “tell me more” about their summer fling.  We belted that song out like nobody’s business.

Then Kenicke buys a beat up car and the T-Birds fix it up in Grease Lightning. 

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For the sing-a-long, words came up on the screen.  Jlo and I didn’t even need ‘em!

grease 040 grease 042A little Grease Lightning dance.

Frenchie drops out of school to attend beauty college, but she’s not very good and accidentally dyes her hair pink.  The bubbles floated around the bowl during Beauty School Dropout.   grease 043
Much to the surprise of both teachers and students, Rydell High is chosen for an episode of National Bandstand.  Danny and Sandy attend the dance and are the best dancers there…grease 049

until Cha-Cha DiGregorio shows up and steals Danny away to win the dance contest.  Sandy sadly leaves the school gym.

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After Grease Lightning is set to race, Kenickie is ready to go head-to-head with Balmudo, the leader of the Scorpions and his nemesis, in a drag race.  But he gets knocked out by a car door and can’t drive in the race.
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Danny takes his place and, after some close calls, wins the race for the T-Birds!grease 055 grease 056While the others run to congratulate Danny, he sees Sandy (who is thinking about what she has to do to get her bad boy).  Seeing Sandy makes him think about what he has to do to get his good girl.

At the end of the school year, there is a carnival.  Danny surprises everyone by arriving with a letterman’s sweater, going jock on his gang.   grease 057grease 060 Then Sandy arrives, again surprising everyone
grease 059including Danny, having morphed into a bad girl who smokes!

After “You’re the One That I Want” (we belted out that one too) the second best song in the movie, Danny and Sandy ride off into the sunset.

grease 074I loved watching the movie outside on the big screen.  It was reminiscent of drive-in movies from back in the 70s.    What a fun way to spend a Su-uhhhh-mmmmerrrrr Niiiiiii-iiiiight!

16 comments:

  1. I'm delighted you had a great time. It wouldn't be my cup of tea all the same.
    Was there any straight men at it.

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    1. I forgot to ask you what time it gets dark with you. Here it's about 10.30 pm so we could never see a film like that.

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    2. Ya, no it was not an event well attended by men, gay or straight. There were a few with their sig others, but it was definitely a girls' night out.
      The movie started at 8:30, and it was fairly dark by then. I would say 7:30/8ish is when the sun starts to go down.

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    3. Hmmm, they either owed a significant debt or were putting a serious amount of brownie points in the bank.

      For some unknown reason Australia is the only place on the planet that the men haven't revoked Travolta's membership. :-)

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    4. Ha ha, probably!
      I don't know between Travolta and Cruise Hollywood's got its fill of scandals doesn't it.

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  2. Yeah!!!!It was a fun night. Next time I see you, I am going to kill you for the really ugly picture! I wonder if anyone will ask why there are no pictures of YOU!! All day, I've been planning next year's costumes for us in my head! ;)

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    1. Ohhhh, I can't wait to hear what you come up with! Why would I let someone take a picture of ME with the possibility of it being posted online. No way! ;) Remember when you kept punching me in the arm saying, "Hey, take my picture!"

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  3. Oh my gosh that looks like so much fun! I didn't even know that existed!

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    1. It was fun. Years ago I went to the midnight showing of the nightly Rocky Horror Picture Show thing they did in Westwood. It was on a much smaller scale, but much crazier with regulars and what not. I think the Grease one is just once a year.

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  4. That sounds like SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun. I would have loved to be there too : ) I would not have been allowed to sing though since I am so awful at it : )
    I am glad you had a fun time!

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    1. No, we sang our little hearts out and no one cared a bit.

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  5. What a fun evening! My sister saw the Beatles at the Bowl in 1964! I have never been there but I do love the Greek Theater :)

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    1. I love concerts at the Bowl. The sound is impeccable. When the Police did their comeback tour a couple of years ago we went to the show at Dodger Stadium and the sound was awful. We saw them at the Bowl the next year, and it was amazing. There's something about it being surrounded by those hills and that domed staged. I do like the Greek too.

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  6. Sounds fun. I know who I'm taking to the next one!

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  7. I told DD2 about your fun evening and she was so jealous.

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  8. Looks like a lot of fun! I love Frank Lloyd Wright!

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