Bishop Cotton School and Auckland House Collaborate on Musical, Shimla
Tuesday 17 October 2023
Bishop Cotton School, Shimla (BCS) is all set for this week’s performances of the musical ‘Grease’ which the boys are performing together with the girls from Auckland House School.
The show will be a celebration of the musical and acting talent in Shimla with the ‘Pink Ladies’ and the ‘T-Birds’ setting the stage alight for a joyful production of singing and dancing.
The musical ‘Grease‘, made famous by the film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, will run from 18th – 20th October 2023 and will be performed in the heart of BCS where a stage has been especially built on the first flat for the occasion. On 25th Octboer ’23 there will also be a one-off special highlights show at the Gothic Gaiety Theatre, in Shimla.
The event will showcase the talents of students from Bishop Cotton School and Auckland House with actors, dancers and musicians from both Shimla schools as they recreate the famous 1950s musical ‘Grease’.
The rehearsals have been intense over the past few months with all the music production and direction being done by the hardworking teachers and students involved. The BCS Art Department, school carpenters and boys have specially made and designed the stage along with a 1950s red car and many props that include a 50s Diner café and jukebox amongst others. The BCS school band, (led by Mr. Reuben John) Choir, Music, Band are performing all the tracks live supported by choirs from each school, there is no backing track.
Grease has a fun storyline set in an American high school in the 1950s, largely based around teenage angst and first love, the tunes are very catchy and are performed with iconic dance routines.
Grease Background
Grease is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as ‘greasers’, the musical is set in 1959 at the fictional Rydell High School in Northwest Chicago
Although Grease was a Tony-nominated Broadway musical hit that opened in February 1972, starring Richard Gere, the film in 1978 went onto be a huge Movie sensation that launched the careers of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.