Olivia Newton-John death sparks 'Grease' memories, early live theater days
It's been a while since I've had something remind me of my high school years, at least when it comes to some of the bigger moments.
The passing of Olivia Newton-John, most famously remembered as Sandy in "Grease," brought back such a memory, one that I'll always remember fondly. More importantly, it was something that taught me about the importance of something like local theater.
In 2005, it was my senior year at Franklin High School. Being part of the school's chorus group, each year we would put on a musical in the spring. The previous year we did "Singin' in The Rain," where I not only got my first experience being on a stage, but also singing a solo. You also learn about all of the mishaps and frustration that goes into rehearsing choreography.
Calling it a crash course in tap dancing would be putting it lightly.
For my senior year, our director chose "Grease" as the annual musical. Though I couldn't call myself a fan, per se, getting to be one of the T-Bird greasers with my classmates seemed like a lot of fun. And it was.
Being up there in our leather jackets, talking wise and smoking prop cigarettes was just so cool, and it wasn't very hard "getting into character" as they say.
While our school's production of "Grease" was one of the most fun times I'd had in those four years of high school, it wasn't until about 10 years later that I realized just how important the experience was, and how it would play a part later in life.
I believe it was around 2015 when I got a call to be a part of the Maury County Arts Guild's production of "Legally Blonde." Of course, having only two credits to my name from high school, I was a little hesitant at first, but ended up doing it anyway.
Again, it was one of the most fun productions I'd been a part of, and something I came away wanting to do again and again.
How the experience made me appreciate those high school musicals was simply the fact that we were all amateurs, and the only expectation we needed to have was whether or not we were having fun together.
That's what makes local theater important, because you're not grasping for an Oscar win, to win your first class ticket to Broadway. It's about having fun and celebrating classic stories, laughing at comedies or being compelled by epic tragedy.
It was sad to hear about Olivia Newton-John's passing after battling cancer for so many years. And while I can't really delve into any sort of fandom or how her work has been a big part of my life, I'm appreciative that one of her most famous roles played a part in something meaningful in my life.
That, if anything, is something to be grateful for.
Jay Powell is a reporter for The Daily Herald. Contact him at jpowell@c-dh.net or follow him on Twitter @JayPowellCDH.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Olivia Newton-John death sparks 'Grease' memories, early live theater days
