A GRANDLY GREASE-Y SPOOF!
Poking fun, flinging a pun, prizing satirizing — that’s the paradise that is parody and Vape!, blatantly billing itself as “The Grease Parody,” aims its playfully poisoned arrows at that popular pop musical about high school, with high spirits. It was presented as a one-night-only concert event at The Town Hall in Manhattan, as a benefit for the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly known as The Actors Fund). The spoof, which—after its 2028 debut in Atlanta—had been the subject of a legal dispute regarding rights and copyrights (but finally deemed as legit “fair use” of the elements of the source material, including melodies fit with new lyrics, etc.) was received with much appreciative laughter on March 11. The inside references to various musicals and celebrities of the past and present were plentiful; attentive attendees long immersed in pop culture no doubt caught many that flew by.
Aisha Jackson, Ann Harada, Jelani Remy, Kerry Butler,
James Carpinello, Joel Perez, Jackie Hoffman and Amy Spanger
Jelani Remy, James Carpinello, Joel Perez
The 1978 film version of Grease is really what is being teased, more than the stage incarnation that played in several Manhattan theatres in its original 1972 production and two revivals. Thus a song is interrupted after a few words when someone points out it’s a number that is in the stage score, but cut from the movie, so they stop singing. Bopping around with a bouncing ponytail as protagonist Sandy, Kerry Butler adopts the Australian accent of the movie’s Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) and there were nods to things about John Travolta beyond his lead male role in Grease, such as a remark about the star being a Scientologist and acknowledging his other screen projects via disco poses and a quick instrumental quote.
Kerry Butler, Joel Perez, Aisha Jackson
Ann Harada, Joel Perez, James Carpinello, Jelani Remy
The casting choice of James Carpinello as Danny has extra zing as he “inherited” Travolta’s role in the stage incarnation of Saturday Night Fever. And Jackie Hoffman sound-cloned the unmistakable voice and inflections of Eve Arden, who played the school principal in the movie. Frequently switching costume pieces, she did double duty, also taking on another key character: Rizzo, the “bad girl” contrast to innocent Sandy.
James Carpinello, Jelani Remy, Ann Harada
The Cast
The titular presence of vaping was one of the things that was evidence of setting the story in modern times instead of having both feet in the 1950s. More contemporary topics tossed in the salad of verbiage include recycling, conspiracy theories, banned books, cell phones (rhymes with “hormones”), and TikTok.
Ann Harada, Jackie Hoffman, Amy Spanger
Rachel Dratch
The happily hijacked title tune announces the proceedings thusly: “Vape! is the play, like Les Miz or MJ.” Much humor comes from the fact that actors in the movie (and this production and so many other projects with teen characters) are well past their own high school days. The first such opportunity comes when host/narrator Seth Rudetsky blithely introduces a protagonist as a “a 30-something teenager.”
Joel Perez, Amy Spanger, Jelani Ramy, Rachel Dratch and Aisha Jackson
Jackie Hoffman
The send-up sent the audience into hysterics pointing out the lack of logic and realism in the story: that it’s never quite explained how Sandy ends up at the school, why she has that accent and repeated vague indications of her homeland as “wherever I’m from,” and why she puts up with Danny’s on-again/off-again attention, as he loves his hot rod more than the girl he sings about being “so hot, but still you’re not quite hot enough for me.” A reality check turns “Hopelessly Devoted to You” into “Hopelessly Gaslighted by You.” The grease in Grease’s song “Greased Lightning” is replaced with its own sort of green new deal, recycled as the group number “Green Lightning.” Another number repurposes a jiving Grease piece to be about another activity on their minds: sex.
Kerry Butler, James Carpinello
Kerry Butler
The cast had a ball: as schoolmates full of bubbliness and/or bravado were Broadway performers Amy Spanger, Joel Perez, Jelani Remy, Ann Harada, and Aisha Jackson (doubling as the principal’s assistant), with Rachel Dratch arriving bedecked with giant white wings as the Teen Angel. And there’s a puppet mouthing off, too.
James Carpinello
Ann Harada
The guilty pleasure glut is directed by Jack Plotnick and produced by Sketchworks Comedy (the group that did the honors in Atlanta) and Visceral Entertainment, with Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley Jackson serving as creative consultants. It’s written by Catie Hogan and members of Sketchworks Comedy, with lyrics and additional book by Billy Recce and Danny Salles. Music supervision and arrangements by Lena Gabrielle.
Aisha Jackson
Seth Rudetsky
photos by Rebecca J. Michelson
Vape! The Grease Parody
Sketchworks Comedy and Visceral Entertainment
benefitting the Entertainment Community Fund
The Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St
played March 11, 2025
for more info, visit Vape! The Musical
