Allan Drive Middle School presents Grease

Written By JOSHUA SANTOS

Allan Drive Middle School is taking you back to the late 50s.  

Students at the school will perform Grease, the musical on stage on Wednesday, May 8 and Thursday, May 9 at 7 p.m. Director Holly Carnegie said rehearsals are going well, acknowledging that it's a lot of work to put on the show.

“The kids have put in a lot of time and effort into it, and spent a lot of lunch hours. It's really coming together,” said Carnegie.

The musical depicts the lives of greaser Danny Zuko and Australian transfer student Sandy Olsson who develop an attraction for each other.

At a rehearsal, students tuned in to instructions practicing lines, dances and songs during a run-through after school at the institution. 

Roshan Sharma plays Zuko, a man who lives a double life as a leader of the greaser's gang, the T-Birds and as Sandy's boyfriend. Olivia Morris, plays Olsson, Danny's girlfriend and an Australian expatriate and ingenue, who transforms from square to greaser.  

Carnegie chose Sharma and Morris as her lead actors because she said they have the vocal and acting ability. She said the two impressed her during their auditions.

Morris said she relates to Olsson's character. She said Olsson is very sweet and naïve. She said she can portray her well.

“I think it suits my personality the best, out of all the characters,” said Morris.

Rehearsals began late last year. Morris said they're getting better than they were in the beginning, because they had a little bit of a slow start.

“After the past couple of weeks, I think we're on the right track for performing in May,” said Morris.

“I think what is working better, is the organization and knowing where to go and knowing timing cues, and songs, because we rehearse songs. It's getting easier to put the whole piece together.”

She said being in a show helped her personality to the outside world, cooperating with peers and working with new people, but said time management can be difficult.

“Making sure that you're ready and set to go and there's nerves to,” said Morris. “But otherwise, I like it a lot.”

She said the teachers have been very helpful, supportive and they help them understand the premise of the show.

“Before this, I did not know any stage terms like stage right or stage left, and they're also teaching us new things every day.”

Carnegie directed Hairspray two years ago at the school. She also directed Willy Wonka Junior and helped on Beauty and the Beast at previous schools. She said a show gives the children an opportunity to express themselves in a way that they may not get to. 

“My experience has been that parents and students have been so appreciative for the opportunity to perform in a show,” said Carnegie. “Grease was something that we discussed directly after Hairspray was over. It's one of those shows that's the big one. We wanted to do it, we're doing it big and it'll be good.”

She said the musical is iconic because of its time period and the themes are still relevant to this day.

“Even though this is set in the 50s, a lot of the stuff they deal with, the kids are dealing with on a daily basis.”

She said the most difficult part of the musical is finding time. She said they have lunch hours, but now they're starting to practice after school, with opening night just one month away.

“Lunch hours, they have to eat during that time, they have to get to the place where we're rehearsing,” said Carnegie. “Really, we have 45 minutes to work with.”

Some of the Grade 8 students, who were in Hairspray, return for Grease. There are, however, some new Grade 6 students in this performance. Carnegie is helping the younger students transition into an acting role.

“It's just about giving the kids tips, they also see what they're classmates are doing. When they audition, we saw that they had something in them, that had that acting spark,” said Carnegie.