The (rare) Grease is in Portugal. Many of the artists had never heard of this musical

Vilar do Paradise Academy of Music presents the famous musical. There are delicate subjects but you need not forget the story.
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“Good new school year for everyone!” There is news at school, there is a new Sandra to meet, you should have the approval of the group of friends – whether old or recent, attention to styleto the leather coats, to the “licked” hair.

There is a summer love that is not over, there is an eternal demand for the eternal relationship, with dialogues that have some sassy excerpts.

And a young woman who is there in the corner to star in a radio emission.

This is the Grease.

But what is the Grease to João Guimarães? “It is a very special show: first, because I had excerpts from this show for over 20 years here at the gym, when I was an actor; and because in 2018 I did the first official professional production of Grease In Portugal, with Yellow Star Company, with Diogo Morgado, alongside great actors and actors, a spectacular team. It is doubly special ”.

João Guimarães is the director of the version of Grease and Vilar do Paradise Music Academy. The debut was this Friday, in Vila Nova de Gaia Municipal Auditorium. Even before the official debut, John spoke to Zap.

It is not a musical that is adapted many times in Portugal. By the way, it took 35 years to reach the Portuguese stage for the first time. It is difficult to find a reason: “It may have to do with themes, who are delicate e dated – There are subjects a little misogeneous, such as the relationship of man with the woman, who is a very current subject; and the People are afraid to touch these matters, because they can offend someone. ”

But there is the other side in these delicate subjects: “It is important not to forget about the storyof memory, to realize how far we have reached and where we do not want to back down. It is good to take this, as long as it is to demonstrate right and wrong. ”

On stage there 57 Artists. 48 actors, 9 musicians. All Between 15 and 30 years. Detail that is not detail: Many of them did not know what the Grease. They could know one or two songs, but they didn’t know the content, the musical. “They had never heard more than half of the songs, they had no idea of the characteristic so loud, at the historical, cultural and social level in the 1960s in the US.”

This lack of knowledge was a “Great Challenge” to the director. It was really the main challenge: “They realized how these young people behaved, which meant to have a car, have a spin, being able to wear a shorter skirt or a few pants, which meant gathering boys and girls at a party, the weight of religion …”.

João Guimarães admits that the hardest was managing everyone’s schedules. It is a (musical theater) course post-Labor, not professional. Having all the artists in the same rehearsal was rare. “This is not a criticism of students. It’s a finding, it’s a challenge,” he says.

What is the gym and this course?

The Vilar do Paradise Academy of Music is almost 50 years old. Created in 1979 as a gym dedicated exclusively to music. Ballet and dance appeared, about a decade later.

It was in 1995 that, with a slight music choirloose music songs began to emerge: “That’s when we started to discover that there was theater that was also sung,” recalls João, who was one of the elements of this choir.

And it was from there that a structured musical theater course began with nuclear disciplines. The training certification came from London and the course came. It is a course of 3 yearsthere is evidence of admission where a “minimum prerequisite level” is soon established.

Nowadays it gives formation in the area of dance, interpretation, singing Ensemble, Individual Corner, spoken voice and project.

This multidisciplinarity is, for example, in the list of Grease translators/adapters: were the academy students themselves to do the translation initial, which is later revised. In the midst of the participation of several other teachers, the choreography is by Daniela Pinto, the musical direction of André Lacerda.

Last year the chosen show was West Side Story. This time it was Greasewhich is on the scene at the Gaia Municipal Auditorium only until this Sunday, July 20. There are two sessions a day, at 16h and 21h30.