Franklin Regional students channel 1950s with spring musical 'Grease'

Last year in the Franklin Regional Theatre Guild’s production of “The Little Mermaid,” students had the challenge of playing princes, mythical creatures or anthropomorphized fish.

This year, director Mark Wolfgang said there’s an even bigger challenge — playing a slightly different version of themselves, as the angst-filled high school students in “Grease.”

And while the pandemic pared back cast numbers the past couple years, “Grease” boasts a cast of 85 and a stage crew of more than 30.

“People really came out of the woodwork for it,” Wolfgang said.

The well-loved show is a big step up for senior Nick Griffin, cast as leading man Danny Zuko.

“Last year, I played Chef Louis, and I was only in two scenes where I was just singing,” he said. “This year, I have a lot more lines and a lot more scenes.”

Wolfgang said the cast is performing the slightly sanitized version of the show meant for a younger audience.

“It cuts out some of the content issues that I just didn’t want to deal with,” he said.

Griffin will share the stage with fellow senior Chloe Zucco in the role of Sandy.

“It’s a challenge being able to properly show all the emotions of a high school, but it’s really fun to be so dramatic and all over the place,” Zucco said. “This is such a fun musical and so well-known.”

It also has a companion piece coming out around the same time, with Paramount+ debuting a prequel series this spring centered around the formation of the “Pink Ladies” group.

Zucco said she’s excited to see so many fellow students in this year’s show.

“We had a lot of difficulty with the musical at the start of the pandemic, and now we can finally get back to the big cast numbers that Mr. Wolfgang is used to having,” she said.

.@FRSDPanthers students rehearse for the spring musical, “Grease,” with opens March 9. pic.twitter.com/niOqvIFFEA

— Patrick Varine - Tribune-Review (@VarineTrib) February 16, 2023

And for Griffin, his fictional gang has an awfully familiar look.

“The ‘T-Birds’ are all my real friends from high school, so it’s great to do the show with all of them,” he said.

“Grease” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. March 9-11, with a 2 p.m. matinee March 12 at Franklin Regional Senior High School, 3200 School Road in Murrysville.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for students. They can be purchased at the box office or Showclix.com.