Ad
'Bear Grease' brings the classic musical with an Indigenous twist to Santa Fe Playhouse
Published
Modified
Two Indigenous rappers were sitting on the couch one day when “Grease” appeared on TV.
Crystle Lightning (Cree) and MC RedCloud (Huichol) had always loved the 1978 classic. They decided to add a Native spin to the John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John musical.
“Bear Grease” is the result, running at Santa Fe Playhouse from Wednesday, Aug. 16, through Sunday, Aug. 20.
As the couple watched the film 2½ years ago, Lightning began singing along to “Summer Nights,” playing with the lyrics:
“Summer lovin,’ I met a girl sweet as can be,
Summer lovin,’ I met a boy who’s not related to me.”
“We said, ‘Let’s just do it!’ ” she said.
“We Indigenized it,” Lightning continued. “We incorporated some of our own music in there. We kept in lines but changed it to ‘Summer Snagging.’ ”
“Snagging” is a Native term for hooking up or meeting someone, she added.
“Everyone seems to respond to it,” she said. “The story is the same; it’s Sandy and Danny in love.”
Ad
Lightning plays Sandy, Newton-John’s character, but her version doesn’t hail from Australia. Depending on where they are, Sandy comes from a different town.
“What is the closest town to Santa Fe?” Lightning asked. “Like, she just moved here from Shiprock.”
The show opens with four Motown songs. The costumes incorporate touches of Indigenous designs.
“My poodle skirt is a bear with ribbons on it,” Lightning said. The men wear coats with beaded bow ties.
As for the title, it refers to a powerful Native medicine used to grow hair and heal skin.
“Also, there’s medicine in the laughter,” Lightning added. “We wanted to make sure it’s funny, and it’s a comedy.”
The all-Indigenous cast (mostly First Nations from Canada) includes Henry Andrade as Danny, Teneil Whiskeyjack as Marty and Tammy Rae as Rezzo.
