Olney High School

Olney Theatre's flashing the 'Grease' lightning

The musical “Grease” — as it has evolved since its gritty 1971 beginnings through Broadway success, tons of tours and cleaned-up school versions — is so loopy with energy that it can’t think straight. “We go together like ramma ramma lamma ka ding-a da ding-a dong,” goes a typically hormone-addled lyric. At the Olney Theatre Center , director Bobby Smith keeps the stage wide open so the show’s revved-up characters can move, and the actors pop like popcorn in the ebullient late-1950s choreography.

So it’s a lively production and fairly fun, if somehow you need to see “Grease” again. Robert Klingelhoefer’s bubbly blue set looks like the studio for a teen dance TV show, with twin arcing staircases framing a big floor. Choreographer Ilona Kessell grabs her chance; she keeps the capable cast dancing in big swaggering groups, with the high school toughs and goofs erupting in acrobatics and lewd thrusts.

Eye-catching as this is, the musical numbers (which include songs added for the 1978 film ) don’t quite envelop you. The familiar melodies tiptoe in, rather than declaring themselves; there isn’t much punch in the five-piece ensemble playing this retro-pop score. The amplification was gratingly loud in the Olney’s “Annie” last winter, but between music director Aaron Broderick and sound designer GW Rodriguez, the tunes are somehow undercooked here.

That’s too bad, because this cast seems ready to let things rip — especially Caroline Bowman as bad girl Betty Rizzo. Bowman drips with disdain as the head of the Pink Ladies, ridiculing the square heroine Sandy and smugly belting “There Are Worse Things I Could Do.” The production gets a bit maudlin when it looks like Rizzo’s In Trouble, but that’s not Bowman’s fault. Like much of the cast, she’s doing zesty work.

As the bickering lovebirds Sandy and Danny, Jessica Lauren Ball and David Bryant Johnson look like cousins of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta (stars of the movie version). Ball and Johnson don’t have original ideas about these characters, but they’re appealing and very easy with the song and dance. Dan Van Why earns grins as Roger (the moon king), Maria Rizzo spins out brassy lines as the flirty Marty, and Ashleigh King is cocky and tacky as Cha-Cha Di Gregorio.

What you dread with “Grease” is cartoonishness, but Smith keeps a sweet tone amid all the gruff posturing, and the performers steer clear of camp, even if they can’t avoid the corn. (Interestingly, Jim Jacobs, who wrote the musical with Warren Casey, recently restored the show to its apparently humbler and more authentic original form for a run in its home town, Chicago.

Sherwood High School Real Estate in Olney

Montgomery County Public Schools, for the third year in a row, has the highest graduation rate among the nation’s largest school districts, according to a national report released today (June 7).

That’s one of the many reasons why Sherwood High School real estate in Olney remains in high demand. The graduation rate of Sherwood High School is 95.2%, with 85.9% of its 2,076 students meeting University System of Maryland entrance requirements.

Superintendent of Schools Jerry D. Weast said these results are even more significant because MCPS sets the bar higher for its graduates.

“We not only are graduating the greatest percentage of students, but we are making sure they are prepared for college and the work place when they cross the stage to get their diploma,” Dr. Weast said. “These results would not be possible without the outstanding effort put forward by the employees of MCPS, simply the best K-12 staff in the nation.”

If you’re interested in Sherwood High School real estate in Olney, The Speicher Team, with more than 30 years of market expertise in Montgomery County, is your only choice.

What’s your first step to find Sherwood High School real estate in Olney? Contact The Speicher Team to talk through your requirements and we’ll send you a list of homes that meet your criteria; it’s that easy!

Have you already found Sherwood High School real estate in Olney? Check out Montgomery County Public School’s (MCPS) School Assignment Locator to ensure it’s in the Sherwood High School district.

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Statistics of land-grant colleges and universities

Educational administration, leading with mind and heart

National survey of secondary education

Oak Lane, Olney, and Logan