By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter
“Grease” is a love story. It’s a coming-of-age journey. It’s a cautionary tale. It’s an antidote to the “Happy Days” version of the 1950s where everything was shiny and apron-wearing and pure, and even the worst case of teen angst was worked out with a jukebox number and a laugh track at the drive-in.
So, yes, there is an aspect of seriousness about the 1972 musical, written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, which was made into a popular movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in 1978. Terri Zopf-Schoessler, who is directing the Kenai Performers’ rendition of the musical, is well aware of the serious elements of the plot. But, more importantly, she’s also out to wring out every last ounce of hair-gelled, shiny-leather-clad, rock ’n’ rolling, jitterbugging fabulousness she possibly can.
“It is absolutely freaking perfect! That’s utterly ridiculous! I love it! This is so wonderfully cheesy!” Zopf-Schoessler yelled at the cast at a recent rehearsal.
To be fair, though, it wasn’t intentional yelling, so much as it was the natural voice-of-god projection that comes from directing theater for 26 years, as Zopf-Schoessler has in this area. She lost count of how many shows she’s done after she hit 100.
With “Grease,” she’s out for classic rock ’n’ roll indulgence and cheese appeal, and she and her production crew are milking it out of the script, cast, sets, music and choreography with the exacting diligence that comes from a team with 100-plus years of theater experience between them.
“That is an explosion of a dress,” Zopf-Schoessler said to costumer Chris Cook during a recent dress rehearsal, as one of the Rydell High girls flounces into the prom scene encased in pink poufiness. “Can we add some sequins? It really needs some sequins. And maybe some turquoise. It needs to be ditz glitz. It needs to be fa-cha-cha. It needs roses, sequins, bows. You can’t add enough stuff to that dress.”
Attention to detail in this production means attention to the ridiculous. It’s giant, bedazzled hair curlers dangling above the stage, it’s enough dress frills and shirt ruffles to choke a goat, it’s a tropical prom theme with visual puke-inducing curtain hues and one sad, balding palm tree for décor, it’s dance moves that hop as much as the music, and even subtle deliveries that cause laugh-out-loud responses.
“It’s wonderfully gloriously silly. It’s just pure entertainment,” Zopf-Schoessler said.
That’s one of the main reasons why she wanted to direct the show. She said she also loves the 1950s rock ’n’ roll music. To do it justice, she brought in Bob Mabrey, of The Mabrey Brothers band and a veteran of several past Kenai Performers shows, who assembled a rock band with his brother, Bill Mabrey, other family and friends.
Bob Mabrey has been invaluable, manning the microphone as well as directing the band and transcribing music to fit actors’ vocal ranges, Zopf-Schoessler said. Mim McKay, an area music teacher, plays keyboards, sings a number in the show and serves as vocal director for the production. Together, they anchor one of the crucial aspects of making “Grease” shine — the music.
“I needed professional musicians who can play it. And they can. They really rock it out. Bob Mabrey is a musical genius, and then Mim McKay is his equal musical genius, and in working with kids,” Zopf-Schoessler said. “I really have to thank a lot of high school voice teachers here, because I have the products of all of the high school vocal programs, and graduates of them.”
For a dramatic production involving more than 100 cast and crew, Zopf-Schoessler said the process has been 
remarkably drama-free, with everything clicking together on schedule and even better than she hoped, in many cases.
“I just got lucky. My cast is a good group of people, and they surpass my expectations. I don’t know why they’re so good, but it’s the only show I’ve told people they need to see twice because there’s just so much going on. And that’s not just to sell tickets,” she said.
The characters have developed well and interact with ease, Zopf-Schoessler said. And it’s a true ensemble cast, with everyone making the most out of their roles.
“What I think is the coolest thing about this show is there isn’t a single person who doesn’t have a moment. And I didn’t have to work that hard to get there. There’s places for everybody to shine,” she said. “They work together really well. And, honestly, I’ve never had a cast pick up choreography this fast.”
Zopf-Schoessler choreographed the show, as well, with several full-cast, full-stage dance numbers that also incorporate solos to show off couples’ jive and swing moves.
“Normally what would take me two or three sessions they picked up in one. I knew I had something special the very first full practice when I was going to teach them ‘We Go Together.’ I figured it would take them three practices. They learned it in 45 minutes and we spent the rest of the practice just running it. They just pick it up quickly and they’re just energetic and fun. There were a couple times I was scrambling to stay ahead of them on the choreography.”
The cast represents a wide cross-section of the community, from a 12-year-old to a 64-year-old, stage veterans and first-timers. Lou Bruno is a newcomer to performing and to the community. He stumbled upon the Kenai Performers’ winter musical for the same reason many others have over the years — a cabin fever reliever.
“He’s new to the area and he said, ‘I’m going crazy.’ So I said, ‘Welcome to the theater. This is why we all do it. Cabin fever? We know,” Zopf-Schoessler said.
Still, Zopf-Schoessler can’t help but shake her head in amazement looking around the theater at all the people involved, even those who shy away from the limelight. Phil Morin, a longtime staple in the area theater and dance community, stepped in at the last minute as stage manager, and brought his crew of efficient and unflappable stagehands from Nikiski High School with him. Chris Cook is the best producer in the world, Zopf-Schoessler said, and is tackling an especially mountainous job costuming the show, with most characters changing into three to five outfits.
“And all the people that work on the sets, they don’t have a dog in this fight. They don’t have a kid in the show and they’re not in the show and they still come for, basically, thankless work. I mean, I thank them, but they’re not out getting applause,” she said.
“Everyone always hopes to have good actors, but I’ve got a great crew and a great band,” she said.
For Havilah Hilbish, who plays Sandy, participating in “Grease” is a continuation of a tradition she’s been part of since she was an 11-year-old kid in Kenai Performers’ production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
“My whole family is just constantly singing really loudly and not always on pitch. It’s just what I grew up doing. It’s normal,” she said.
Hilbish sang “Summer Nights” from “Grease” with her high school choir and fell in love with the song and the show. Although her character took some getting used to. In real life, she’s more of the sarcastic, Rizzo type than the pink and prissy Sandy, she said.
“But I’ve had a blast. I love it. I’m still a very different person than who Sandy is, but I’ve really enjoyed the challenge to get to play her. I love the songs she gets to sing,” Hilbish said.
Chris Pepper had the exact opposite experience with his character, Roger. Pepper was familiar with the movie version of “Grease,” where the Roger character has a different name, so Pepper didn’t know whom exactly he’d been cast as.
“At first I had to work with a completely different character I had no identification with,” he said.
Zopf-Schoessler told him Roger is the clown of the gang, with lots of physical humor and not many boundaries.
“Chris Pepper has been great. I think he dresses like that in real life,” Zopf-Schoessler said of how at-home Pepper has made himself in overly greased hair and ever-so-slightly-too-short jeans.
Ah, perfect.
“Right off I knew that I probably wasn’t going to have many limits to how big my character could be, which is good for me — into the safe zone,” said Pepper, who played the over-the-top villain in last winter’s Kenai Performers’ musical, “Oliver!”
Dancing was a bit of a trick for him, trying to figure out the moves while keeping Roger’s personality intact, not to mention his dance partners’ feet.
“My big thing is dancing with girls. Like, it takes me a while to synchronize my body with what they’re doing, and luckily the girls that I dance with help me out without telling me to my face that they’re angry with how I’m dancing. So it’s good for me that they have patience. It’s been really fun. And once you get it, you can kind of feel it and you just get this energy,” Pepper said.
“Grease” is paced for high-octane energy overall, and the cast has been building up to a combustion point with an audience this weekend.
“We’re all realizing that everybody knows their lines and knows their moves. Now we just have to smile and exaggerate everything, and I think we’ve reached that point and are having a lot of fun. Whenever there’s an audience in here the whole atmosphere changes and everybody’s just pumped and into it,” Pepper said.
Zopf-Schoessler said she can’t wait to take people back to the 1950s, where “guys were still trying to get girls and, as you can see, mostly getting shot down. And girls were still trying to attract guys and running amok,” she said. “It is a typical high school mindset in that no adults are of any importance, whatsoever.”
What is of utmost important to Zopf-Schoessler is reveling in all the goofy, glitz-to-the-point-of-gagging glory that “Grease” has to offer.
“It’s been a ball. This has been so much fun,” she said. As the cast sings in its first number, “‘Grease’ is the word!”
