Grease

Grease

Written by Julie Shuber

Grease is the word! Yough Drama Department presented their spring musical: Grease: School Edition on March 28th-30th, 2025. The alumni of Rydell High welcome you all back to honor the class of ‘59. Grease tells of infamous cliches and students of the school with a classic teen romance story. The high school sweethearts of Danny and Sandy were played by Josh Hall (senior) and Abbey Zuraw (senior). No teen romance can be complete without the mean girl. That comes in the form of Betty Rizzo, played by Julie Shuber (senior). Rizzo’s on and off love interest and leader of the Burger Palace Boys, Kenickie, was played by Jacob Booher (junior). Booher also played Teen Angel in the production. The rest of the Burger Palace Boys included: Caleb Richardson (junior) as Roger, Rowan Taylor (freshman) as Doody, and Brayden Anderson (sophomore) as Sonny. To rival the boys, are the Pink Ladies that are led by Rizzo. The Pink Ladies include: Caliope Young (junior) as Frenchy, Mandi Gerdich (freshman) as Marty, and Addison Watkins (junior) as Jan. Other named students and staff of Rydell include: Abby Dodson (freshman) as Patty Simcox, Elijah Frischolz (senior) as Eugene Florcyzk, Hailey Whalen (sophomore) as Ms. Lynch, Emma Smith (freshman) as the Coach, Ava Dietz (sophomore) as Vince Fontaine, McCartney Nader (sophomore) as Cha-Cha, and Billy Spell (junior) as Johnny Casino. Ensemble cast members include: Chloe Buchko (sophomore), Ryeley Ellsworth (freshman), Jenna Fawcett (freshman), Allison King (freshman), Bella Maroney (freshman), and Lindsay Moskyok (junior). The show was directed by Kyla Yencik and Brandon Keselyak assisted. Mr. Ritz was the vocal director. The seats were packed every night to see these students sing “Greased Lightnin’” and “Summer Nights”, and the reviews were raving! 

Additionally, on May 7, 2025, the Grease cast performed at The Westmoreland Night of the Stars. It took place at The Palace Theater in Greensburg, and 12 other schools were included in the show. Westmoreland Performing Arts awarded McCartney Nader and Caleb Richardson scholarships to their summer camps. Congratulations to both of them!