Theater Thursday - Bear Grease

We were given complimentary tickets to Bear Grease for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Bear Grease

Where: St. Luke's Theatre

             308 W. 46th St.

             New York, NY

Who: Recommended for Ages 12 and Up

When: Through July 27, 2025

The musical Bear Grease is a retelling of the popular musical Grease from an indigenous perspective. As the second Off-Broadway musical to have an entirely indigenous cast, the first was last year's Distant Thunder; this show definitely represents a giant step in the right direction for true diversity in theater. However, the show doesn't quite live up to either of its predecessors, Distant Thunder or the original Grease. 

This show is just trying to be too many things at once. Aside from being an indigenous take on Grease, it's a backstage drama and a parody of TV commercials. All of this just takes focus away from the main show, making it seem longer, harder to follow, and less enjoyable. It also doesn't leave enough time for character development, and it is hard to differentiate the side characters from one another.  

The character of Sandy is completely different from the original. She does not start out quite as sweet and wholesome, but has more of an edge right from the start.   This makes her transformation not as believable. It's basically a style upgrade and that's all. 

This is not to say that there is nothing to like about the show. The acting and singing are both great. Melody McArthur, who plays Sandy, has a particularly nice voice.  The native choreography is really energetic and exciting. There are also some fun nods to the original, at least the movie version, if not the stage version, including the cartoon opening credits. Plus, the closing number is a blast. However, it's just not as good as it could be if it weren't so bloated with all that excess, unnecessary stuff.

And that's our view. For more about Bear Grease or to purchase tickets, visit beargreaselive.com.

Tune in Sunday for this week's Sunday Scoop. 

Photo credits:

All Bear Grease production photos supplied by the show

Images used in this post have been sent to us from publicists, artists, and/or  PR firms and are used by permission. If there is a problem with the rights to any image,  contact us here, and we will look into the matter.