Grease Is The Word With The New York Bakery Co

I was up at an unearthly hour yesterday morning in order to queue up outside the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End for an 'early morning musical', a performance of Grease sponsored by the New York Bakery Co.

Entering the theatre at just past 8am we were ushered down to the front rows of the stalls, passing by usherettes handing out bagels that we munched on as we sat down and waited for the show to start. A series of 50s rock and roll hits were played for a while, interspersed with appearances on the stage by the musical's 'Teen Angel', Jason Capewell who, wearing an amazing costume and even more amazing hair (!), read out some extremely cheesy radio-style ad breaks featuring the delights of New York bagels, much to the amusement of the giggling audience.

As 8:30 approached the cast came onto the stage and we were treated to 30 minutes of hits from the show, including 'Grease Is The Word' and 'You're The One That I Want', as well as a medley encore with the cast sitting munching bagels in a sophisticated set made to echo the atmosphere of a 50s diner. I have to say that I was very impressed with the performance which was a riot of colourful costumes, energetic dancing and singing in fantastically realised sets (they've devised a really rather neat way to turn the old jallopy in 'Greased Lightning' into the slick roadster, for example). If you're familiar with the film you'll certainly recognise the characters as they've obviously gone to great lengths to find actors with the right build and looks to echo their on-screen counterparts as well (I still remember going to the local cinema just after it opened with some friends, all of us with our hair brylcreemed and wearing leather jackets - ah, those were the days!). As we only got a taster yesterday I might be inclined to seek out some cheap tickets before it goes on tour around the UK, beginning in May. I'm not sure that I'd be up for another visit to the theatre at that time of the morning though, but it certainly made for an interesting experience at breakfast time!