Grease at Drury Lane Theatre

I can’t write about Grease without telling you all a story about the absolute stupidest argument in the world that I used to have with my friends back in high school.

As I’m sure that every single one of you knows (but, if you don’t, I don’t judge), there is a very famous movie rendition of Grease starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Emily and I discussed it a bit in the interview, which you should listen to, if you haven’t yet.

What you may not know, even if you’re aware of the movie, is that it has an eponymous theme song, written by Barry Gibb and performed by Frankie Valli (of whom I was, and still am, a big fan). The song is pretty catchy and is built around the phrase “Grease is the word”. It then explains all the reasons why “Grease” is the word. Needless to say, it was quite convincing.

When I was in high school, an episode of Family Guy came out that was entitled I Dream of Jesus.

In it, Peter rediscovers his love of the 1963 song Surfin’ Bird by The Trashmen, which feature the repeated lyrics “Bird is the word”. Peter then sets out, in standard Family Guy fashion, to make that declarative statement in various ways that inevitably lead to him singing Surfin’ Bird, while annoying everyone around him and reminding my peers that there is competition for what truly is “the word”.

And, thus, the Grease vs Bird battle begun.

For your reading enjoyment, I will now recap that argument.

While I concede that “bird” beat “Grease” to the punch in proclaiming itself the word, I do not believe that is a point in its favor, as it means that, when “Grease” acquired the title later, it would’ve taken it from “bird”—de facto proof that “Grease” won the battle before we even started.

Additionally, “bird” never presents a valid argument. It just makes the claim, over and over, like it’s trying to brainwash you into believing it. That’s not how science works. “Grease”, on the other hand, at least tries to lay out facts and make a case. Could it be stronger? Sure. But it probably didn’t feel it needed to, what with the all of nothing that “bird” brought to the table.

Lastly, and probably the biggest argument of all: Peter Griffin is not an individual whose side you want to be on in any argument.

He is almost always wrong, and it’s incredibly telling that all he did was annoy the heck out of everyone around him, which culminated in Brian and Stewie buying up every copy of the album they could and going all Office Space on them—all so that Peter would have no choice but to drop his ridiculous position.

Grease, on the other hand, has never annoyed anyone. It’s a great song from a great movie.

In fact, many of the songs from both the movie and stage production are great.

Don’t believe me? I happen to know of a production in Oakbrook Terrace that runs through June 4 so that you can see for yourself. (Information and tickets are available the Drury Lane Theatre website.)

And remember, no matter what anybody tells you...

Grease IS the word!