Sophie Nixon

(Nikolai Foster Production - Sunderland Empire August 2019) The music always fab! But I do think the casting wasn’t great. Sandy looked nothing like sandy, and unfortunately wasn’t the strongest actress. Her voice was brilliant though! Danny and Kenickie should’ve swapped as parts as again Kenickie was more suited to the appearence of Danny, and when the main characters don’t stand out you know it’s a casting problem. Frenchie was fantastic and Sonny too. High energy and really strong acting. Felt very true to their roles. I feel that grease as a musical has a chance to be a really great musical. But the company that has produced this particular one has got it wrong. I just feel the particular musical could be improved. It could’ve stuck to the storyline of the movie a little more, felt more like grease with the set. It needed more scenes with Danny and sandy, as I felt no chemistry, and no connection between the two characters. Sandy’s appearance as the new sandy was really disappointing. There was no major transformation, no show stopping reveal that you’d expect. The ‘Grease Lighting’ car, I was expecting it to change into the fancy car it’s supposed to and that never happened. There was no fairground set, everything was set in the burger place which just seemed thoughtless. And to be honest the layout of the show and the added 2 unknown songs It all seemed a little random. The main music was great though and I enjoyed the end with the viewers engagement. Peter Andre was a random choice in a cast that isn’t well known but he made it fun and picked it up as at times the show/script was a tad boring. If I’m going to be completely honest, I did get recommended to skip this musical off a family member as she said it’s not the greatest musical, but Peter Andres involvement sold it to me. You can see the vast work hard and it’s a shame but they didn’t get the applause like Andre did, and I believe that’s all down to poor casting and a show that ran without the laughs and real grease feel that viewers need. For such an iconic movie and set the bar for musicals, the live show could’ve been SO much better.

So after a much anticipated wait and thinking this movie will be a game changer for Efron and slip away from previous characters he’s played and also give us more insight into the horrendous act of criminology that occurred.. I was left feeling very bored and disappointed. The movie begins so messy. It doesn’t make any sense, and it looks cheaply done. I was so bored I ended up on my phone a few times and only stuck with it because I’m an Efron fan and hoped it would build. I understand Berlingers direction was that he didn’t want to glorify ted and didn’t wanna make it all about brining the hurt to the victims up again as this can be raw for the families. However I feel he kinda did glorify ted because the film didn’t make you want to hate him. It made him likeable in a way and because it was Efron I thought maybe they’ll direct the film so well that you’ll see Efron as a evil chatcterr but he still played and portrayed the same handsome man that everyone wants as he does in all His films. Yes I understand that was a big part of Teds character, however this film failed to ever portray the real awful side of Bundy. In regards to Efron, I was disappointed we didn’t really get to see a change of acting and challenge to his character list. I feel like if they had maybe changed Efrons accent this would have helped see him as Bundy more, as yes they do naturally look similar but because of the part of Bundy they portrayed and Efron had his normal accent/voice and didn’t alter it to be like Bundys it did come across fairly difficult to believe the the actor was the character. Except the very last 10 minutes. This is when the movie gave us what we had hoped we’d see throughout. We saw confession, anger, emotion, betrayal and an act of crime. It allows Efron to explore Bundys feelings and character and that last 10 minutes in the prison on the phone with Collins really was a tremendous piece of writing, directing and most importantly acting. The last 30-40 mins picked up, however I do feel this movie missed out on BIG opportunity, you can still direct a movie based on real events from a different point of view whilst still showcasing the evil that occurred in an way that won’t be harmful to family’s of the victims and there memory. I feel like Berlinger has always had an interest in Bundy and this movie could have made something big. However it did not satisfy and feel real. It felt cheap, long, bland and over rated. It would get a 2.5/5 for me. The performance of Collins friend and new boyfriend were fantastic and the performance of the actress portraying Carole Ann Boom was also good. However lots didn’t nit together and it did seem a little bit under directed. If it wasn’t for Efrons name on the move I highly doubt a lot of interested would’ve arose.