Programme 1989 – Grease

RYDELL HIGH SCHOOL
YEARBOOK
1959

Grease

RHS

RYDELL HIGH SCHOOL

PARENT-TEACHERS ASSOCIATION
Patron:   Bob Wright
President:   Peter Shepherd
Vice-President:   John Briggs
Immediate Past President:   Fred Twyford
Chairman:   Robert Lockyer

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
Barbara Brown, Marc Collier, Ian Collins, Bill Dalton, Syd Jago, Alan Jones, Brian Nathan, Ros Van de Ven, Glen Ward, John Williams.
Secretary:   Ian Reid
Treasurer:   Lyndsay Browne
Hon. Auditor:   Les Robertson
Hon. Solicitor:   John Matthews
Hon. Photographer:   James White

LIFE MEMBERS:
Hazel Collier, Bob Wright, Dawn Unsworth, Bob Houston, Alan Jones, John Collier, Don Hurley, Fred Twyford.

President’s Message

Rock and Roll is back!
In 1979 Napier Operatic Society successfully staged “Grease”. In 1989 it is our pleasure to once again present “Grease” – in a different format, to a new generation. Rob Hickey has shown a great deal of enthusiasm and flair and together with his very enthusiastic cast will give you a show to remember.
Sit back and enjoy this colourful, musical extravaganza.

Peter Shepherd
President.

Napier Operatic Society Inc.
Est.
1887

presents

Grease

A 50’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Musical
Book, Music and Lyrics by:
JIM JACOBS & WARREN CASEY

MUNICIPAL THEATRE, NAPIER
21st to 29th July 1989

Directed by:   Robert Hickey
Musical Director:   Warwick Curtis
Choreographer:   Briar Horrocks

by arrangement with Dominie Pty Ltd.

ROBERT HICKEY – Chairman of the Rydell Thespian Soc. (and School Play Director)
Since first appearing on stage as an anonymous blackbird at age five, Rob has acted or directed for many theatres throughout New Zealand. His first involvement with this society was on stage in the 1981 Music Hall and while attending Teachers’ College in Palmerston North he proved himself to be equally at home with Shakespeare of Brecht as he was with musical theatre.

In recent years he has appeared in local productions of “Merry Wives of Windsor”, “The Real Inspector Hound”, “Charlie Girl”, “The Gingerbread Man”, “Chicago”, ‘Mack and Mabel” and as Director for our 1986 Old Time Music Hall. He is now proud to be able to add this production of “Grease” to his list of credits.

WARWICK CURTIS – Glee Club President
(and School Play Musical Director)
Warwick has had a long association with operatic and musical productions ranging from small theatre shows to “Bowl of Brooklands” spectaculars. Last year as well as directing the music for Hastings Operatic’s “Sound of Music”, he arranged tie [the] dance numbers, orchestrated and directed the music for Napier Operatic’s award-winning production “An Evening with Gershwin”.

BRIAR HORROCKS – Winner of the Rydell Tap Dancing Trophy and School Play choreographer)
Briar started dancing when she was 8 with Jean Ballantyne commencing part-time teaching at 13 and full-time on leaving school.
She became involved with musicals in 1964 with “My Fair Lady”. In 1978 she won the first Choreographic competition held in New Zealand, her work being mounted two years later by the New Zealand Ballet Company. Briar had her own Dance Theatre Company for five years, performing at the Hastings Cultural Centre. Having been involved in some twenty three shows as performer or choreographer Briar is delighted to be involved with this production of “Grease”.

PROGRAMME FOR GRADUATION DAY CEREMONY

ACT ONE:
Rydell High School Assembly Hall, 1989
“Rydell Alma Mater”   Miss Lynch, Eugene, Patty and The Company.
“Alma Mater Parody”   T-Birds and Pink Ladies

Rydell High School, 1959
“Summer Nights”   Sandy, Danny, Pink Ladies and T-Birds
“Hopelessly Devoted To You”   Sandy

Marty’s Bedroom, that night
“Freddy My Love”   Marty and Pink Ladies

An Empty Lot off 14th Street, the same night
“Greased Lightning”   Kenickie, T-Birds and The Company

Rydell High School, behind the Football Field, the next week
“Rydell Fight Song”   Rydell Ringtail Cheer Squad

The Burger Palace, that night
“Those Magic Changes”   Sony [Sonny] and The Company
“Mooning”   Roger and Jan
“Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee”   Rizzo
“We Go Together”   T-Birds and Pink Ladies

– INTERVAL –

ACT TWO:
Rydell High School, the Boy’s Gym, the next night
“Shaking at the High School Hop”   T-Birds and Pink Ladies
“It’s Raining on Prom Night”   Sandy and WLDL
“Born to Hand Jive”   Johnny Casino and The Company

Outside the Burger Palace, a few days later
“Beauty School Dropout”   Teen Angel and Chorus

An Empty Lot off 14th Street, the same night

The Star-Light Drive-in, the next night
“Sandy”   Danny

Jan’s Basement, the next night
“Rock ‘n Roll Party Queen”   Roger and Doody
“There Are Worse Things I Could Do”   Rizzo
“Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee” (Reprise)   Sandy

The Burger Palace, the next afternoon
“You’re The One That I Want”   Sandy, Danny, T-Birds and Pink Ladies
“We Go Together”   The Entire Company

1959 GRADUATING CLASS

Kay Collins plays
MISS LYNCH
(and the spoons)

William Waitoa plays
JOHNNY CASINO
and
TEEN ANGEL
(now available on cassette)

Sharron Pardoe plays
MARTY
(and it cool)

Roxanne MacRedie plays
CHA-CHA
(and hard to get)

Paul Winders plays
DANNY
(and NZ style Grid-Iron)

Leanne Kyle plays
SANDY
(and the Marriage Game)

Lesley Jeffares plays
RIZZO
(and in woodpiles)

Joe Atkin plays
KENICKE
(and with finger paints)

Thomas Griffiths plays
SONNY
(and strange music)

Rosalind Wilson plays
PATTY
(and Doctors-and-Nurses for real)

Craig Wilson plays
EUGENE
(and 77Zk)

Megan Baldwin plays
FRENCHY
(and squash with her boyfriend…)

Dion Crouch plays
DOODY
(and truant)

Orlena Wilton plays
the STAR of WLDL
(and everthing else)

James Paxie plays
VINCE FONTAINE
(and poker machines)

Sandra Kersey plays
JAN
(and Merry Hell)

Donald Cullen plays
ROGER
(and up)

T-Birds rule Rydell

Pink Ladies forever

Rock ‘n’ Roll is here to stay

Howdy Doody was here

IN MEMORIAM

There is nothing much deader than a dead motion picture actor, and yet, even after James Dean had been some years dead, when they filed out of the close darkness and the breathed out air of the second and third and fourth run motion picture theatres where they’d been seeing James Dean’s old films, they still lined up:

the boys in the jackboots and the leather jackets, the boys in the skintight jeans, the boys in broad motorbike belts, before the mirrors in the restrooms to look at themselves and see James Dean;

the resentful hair, the deep eyes floating in lonesomeness, the bitter beat look, the scorn on the lip…

The girls flocked out dizzy with wanting to run their fingers through his hair, to feel that thwarted maleness, girl-boy almost, but he needs a shave… “Just him and me in the back seat of a car.”

Their fathers snort, but sometimes they remember: “Nobody understood me either. I might have amounted to something if the folks had understood.”

The older women struggle from their seats wet eyed.
– John Dos Passos

Jan’s Basement

Danny and Sandy

Greased Lightning

THE BAND:

Beryl Riley – alto sax, clarinet
Barry Cullen – piano
Paul Jeffares – lead guitar
John Roberts – rhythm guitar
Cliff Howell – bass guitar
Shane Foster – guitar
Brian Rae – percussion
Warwick Curtis – synthesiser

HEADS OF DEPARTMENT:

Marc Collier
Mechanist

Alan Jones
Stage Manager

Robert Lockyer
Head Technician

Ian Collins   Sharon Pook   Paul Collier   Dale Reid   Ros Van de Van   Leigh Jones

RYDELL HIGH SCHOOL STAFF

Production Manager:   Peter Shepherd
Stage Manager:   Alan Jones
Mechanist:   Marc Collier
Production Secretary:   Sharon Pook
Assistant Stage Manager:   Leigh Jones
Set Construction:   John Briggs
Wardrobe Mistress:   Roz Van de Ven
Properties Mistress:   Dale Reid
Make-Up Mistress:   Trish Green
Head Flyman:   Clive Buttery
Head Technician:   Robert Lockyer
Lighting Design:   Paul Collier with John Matthews and Peter Eade
Projection:   Syd Jago
Publicity:   Ian Collins

Construction:   Mark Collier, Alan Hold [Holt], Steve Roberts, Pierre Van der Zwet, Steve Pardoe, Bill Grindrod, John Williams, George Ward, Brian Nathan, Brett Collier, Karen White, Jill Williams, Aaron Wheadon, Garry McArdle.

Scenic Artists:   Trevor Hayter, Brett Collier, Joe Atkin, Ion Brown, Michael Blow.

Car Construction:   Reg Whitlock, Danny Brown, Alan Jones, Wayne Keeling, Harley Jones, Matthew Brown, Jeff McLoughlin.

Suppers:   Gill Wilton, Margaret Sceats and helpers.

Wardrobe:   Glen Ward, Chris Sheilds, Joan MacLaurin, Saima Pritchard, Pauline McArdle, Sue Page, Marguerite Andrews, Guiseppa Bartle, Jean Allen.

Properties:   Irene McKinnon, Joy Shepherd, Sarah Stephens, Philippa Jones, Sarah Reid, Janine Reid, Anna Brown, Kathy Wheadon, Donna O’Shaughnessy, Donna Williams, Tarisha Briggs.

Stage Crew:   Alan Holt, Steve Roberts, Pierre Van der Zwet, Steve Pardoe, Brian Nathan, Aaron Wheadon.

Fly Floor:   Harley Jones, Eion McKinnon, Fred Keeling, Craig Kenah, Malcolm Kenah, Matthew Brown, Bill Perry, Bill Grindrod, Brian Nathan.

Make-Up:   Minnie Wright, Dawn McCowatt, Leeanne Simpson, Helen Jackson, Joyce Greenhalgh, Jill Richards, Jane Christieson, Michelle Priday.

Hair Stylist:   Yvonne Ironside, Kellie Helford [Heiford].

Lighting:   Jill Williams, Dave Chambers, Pierre van der Zwet.

Sound:   Denis Newport, Jim Thorburn, Lee Lockyer, Paul Jennings, Gail Hones [Jones], Glen Ward, Helen Wakely, Val Shaw, Don Hurley.

Stage Electrician:   Jim Thorburn.

Communications:   Robert Lockyer, Jim Thorburn.

Front of House:   Peter Shepherd, Ian Collins, Lyndsay Browne, Barrie Browne, Bill Dalton, Barbara Brown, Fred Twyford, John Williams, Neill Page, Karen White and helpers.

Publicity:   Peter Shepherd, Sharron Pardoe, Glen Ward, John Williams.

Programme:   Ian Collins, Peter Shepherd, Robert Hickey.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Leather Action, Hastings
Napier Auto Supplies
Onekawa Hotel
Guthrie Bowron
Radio New Zealand
Pizza Hut
S. W. Jones & Co.
McMillin · Craig Ltd

A DECADE OF SHOWS

Since “Grease” was last performed by the Napier Operatic Society, in both Hastings and Napier in 1979 the Society has produced these shows:

1979   Music Hall
1980   Jesus Christ Super Star
1980   Music Hall
1981   HMS Pinafore
1981   Hans Christian Anderson
1981   Music Hall
1982   Cabaret
1982   Oklahoma
1982   Music Hall
1983   Annie
1983   Music Hall
1984   Man of La Mancha
1984   Patience
1984   Music Hall
1985   The Gingerbread Man
1985   Chicago
1985   Music Hall
1986   Mack & Mabel
1986   Music Hall
1987   The Sorcerer
1987   Nostalgia (Centennial Production)
1987   Music Hall
1988   Oliver
1988   An Evening with Gershwin
1988   Music Hall

To come in 1989:   Music Hall with director Robert Hickey

Proposed 1990 Productions:
“The Fantasticks”
“Evita”
“Music Hall”

MEMBERSHIP
Subscribing Members:   If you are not already a member of our Society and would like to become one, 1989 subscriptions of $15 per household are now being received at Box 756, Napier. This will entitle you to preferential bookings, opening night complimentaries (if available) and to be on our mailing list.

Active Members:   We always need active members, both on-stage and backstage. Phone (070) 439-953) if you are interested in joining us in some capacity.