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If you’re going to create an immersive musical experience, picking the right musical is arguably the most important thing — and Grease proves to be the perfect vehicle.
Attracting Pink Ladies and T-Birds from far and wide, fans descend on Battersea Park for an afternoon of pure, unabashed enjoyment. And the experience begins well before anyone starts singing Grease Is the Word.
Before the show, there’s a mini fairground filled with rides, games, food and drink to get you into the spirit. I particularly enjoyed the Kentucky Derby game, where you throw balls into holes to move your racehorse along the track. It’s ridiculously cute — and deceptively competitive. There’s also the Rydell Gym, where you can try your hand at hula-hooping, and a beauty school where you can pick up a few freebies along the way from Benefit.
Then it’s time for the main event.
The auditorium itself is quite something. A huge dance floor fills the centre, surrounded by recreations of familiar locations from the film — the bandstand, Frosty Palace, the school bleachers, the auto shop and the drive-in. It looks wonderful and immediately makes you feel as though you’ve stepped inside the world of Grease.
The concept is deceptively simple but incredibly effective. The original film plays across multiple giant screens while a live cast and musicians perform the musical simultaneously around the space. You can stay in your seat and watch it all unfold, or get up and follow the action, moving around the auditorium and seeing the performers up close.
The choreography is terrific — high-energy, instantly recognisable and delivered by a cast who give it absolutely everything. Just as importantly, the performers are brilliant at interacting with the audience. They don’t simply perform around you; they draw you into the world of Rydell High and make you feel part of the experience.
And there are plenty of opportunities to go one step further. You can sing as part of the Rydell choir, enter the dance competition or grab some pom-poms and join in with Beauty School Dropout. You can immerse yourself as much — or as little — as you want.
What’s particularly impressive is how effortless it all feels. Behind the scenes, it must be an extraordinarily complicated logistical exercise, with performers, musicians and hundreds of audience members constantly moving around the space. Yet the marshals expertly manoeuvre the crowds so the actors can get exactly where they need to be without ever stopping the action or making you feel as though you’re being managed.
It’s a masterclass in logistics disguised as a party.
And just when you think it’s over, the experience spills back outside. The final scene takes place in the fairground, bringing the whole event full circle and blurring the line between film, live performance and audience participation one last time.
This is immersive theatre at its best: joyful, energetic and designed to make you feel as though, for a few hours at least, you really have stepped inside Grease.