‘Awesome’ Performance of “Grease” by Ramapo High School Players

BY GEORGE J. DACRE

Ramapo High School rocked Friday night with a packed and very enthusiastic house for the high school players production of “Grease.”

The show stars Harrisan Santan as Danny and Julia Furlipa as Sandy who lead a cast of young performers in this fifties classic directed by veteran Eileen Geiger and choreographed by Liane Garzia.

You know the story, how Danny and Sandy meet for “Summer Love” at the beach and when they find out they both go to Rydell High School, Danny gets into his hip greaser act and is “cool” to Sandy. Sandy becomes one of the Pink Ladies and has growing problems with Rizzo, a tough young lady ahead of her time. The pathos of teenagers in the fifties is well played in the production.

The show has an excellent cast and is one of the many musicals produced over the years by the Ramapo High School Players. Michael Smith directed the music and plays a great lead trumpet.

Santan and Furlipa bring Danny and Sandy to life expertly and make a great couple on stage handling all the wonderful “Grease” numbers. “Summer Nights” with Sandy and Danny, the Burger Palace Boys and the Pink Ladies; “All Choked Up,” “It’s Raining On Prom Night,” and “Shakin’ At The High School Hop” are all done well.

Rachel Gomberg scores highly as Rizzo doing a fine job on “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee.” Desmond Shangase as Teen Angel and Cheyenne Myrie with “Beauty School Dropout” add to the show. Sarai Rivera does Mrs. Lynch just fine and Jolie Veronique is a great Cha Cha. A twenty-four member ensemble backs up the stars with great chorale and dancing.

Costuming has the fifties right there on stage at Ramapo High School (Liane Garzia and Cindy Kay) as does the set design (Robert Adzema). Lighting by Mike Gnazzo and Sound by Gian Portanova add to the professionalism of the production of “Grease” at Ramapo High School.

I rate it Three Out of Four Stars.

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