The dog was every bit as good as John Travolta.
I was in the original production of GREASE in Chicago, for
most of 1971, and that song was not part of the stage musical, just the movie, but it’s still fun to see GREASE enjoying so many different kinds of spun-off afterlife.
That’s really cool. Are you still in the acting business?
No, not in acting. But I was in theatre for most of the 70s in Chicago, as actor, business manager for an acting company, etc. Our original cast had Marilu Henner, who’d just gotten out of high school. I’m sure you recognize her name. I still maintain some relationship with certain people from then and there, though we’re in far flung locations. It was my character, Miller, (who was combined into two other characters when the show was re-written for New York in early ‘72) who had all the great songs, including “Greased Lightning”, which was given to Danny Zuko (Barry Bostwick on Broadway, John Travolta in the movie). Originally I was cast as Teen Angel, so I had the song Beauty School Dropout (that Frankie Avalon did in the movie), but the guy cast as Miller dropped out halfway through rehearsals, and Jim Jacobs wanted me to take over the part. I still wound up singing B S Dropout in certain shows, while I was also playing Miller (Rizzo’s boyfriend)/
Whenever the actor playing Teen ANgel was sick or absent for some reason, I did two parts, with lightning-fast wardrobe changes between scenes. Lotsa fun.