Secret Cinema only seems to be growing in popularity lately, with Bridgerton and Guardians of the Galaxy themed experiences. While Grease was never my favourite musical, my musical theatre heart simply had to see what it was all about.
Grease: The Live Experience by Secret Cinema created an immersive world where you could lose yourself at Rydell High. There was dancing in the gym, the T-Birds hanging out at the auto shop and even some cheerleading practice in between the performers re-enacting some scenes and songs from the movies.
The performers were brilliant, singing and dancing and acting. Clearly, they had rehearsed this to perfection with how accurately they mimicked the movie. I couldn’t pick out anyone who was particularly good because they were all stunning. They also pulled people into interacting with them, or dancing with them, or into joining in with whatever was going on. It was a Grease fan’s dream. Whether it was hanging out with the Pink Ladies, or hand-jiving at the dance, it was amazing.
For anyone going, I do recommend dressing up and acting the part. It makes it so much more fun to twirl around in a 50s style skirt or dress or have compliments on a vintage hairstyle. I will say, having Cha Cha compliment my hair while everyone was dancing and having Danny like my dress as pretty fun.
As it is the British summertime, a picnic blanket is highly recommended. Since I went on a not so busy night, I could find a spot on a bench to watch the movie. For anyone who knows the culture around Rocky Horror, the bonus experience of watching the movie won’t be a huge surprise. But it doesn’t make it any less fun.
Issues at Grease: The Live Experience
The event did have a few issues. There was only about an hour and a half to look around which didn’t seem to be enough time. So much was happening you were missing things or didn’t even realise something was happening until the crowd was dispersing. Since I mostly followed some of the performance from scene to scene, I didn’t get much of a chance to look around at the carnival. It was hard to look at the details of the sets like the auto shop when there was constant performances.
Another issue I had was crowding. For some of the popular performances, I was constantly being shoved. During Greased Lighting, I could barely move. There were also parts where people were only allowed on the fake grass laid out on the car park. I was constantly being pushed off and had security usher me back on. While photos were allowed, filming was not, and Security seemed to be very good at stopping people from filming. I just wished they had a better way to control the crowds since some parts were getting very cramped. I can only imagine what it must have been like on a night where there were far more people attending.
Other than those a few issues, the night was fantastic fun. I will now have to keep an eye out for more Secret Cinema experiences. Hopefully they do more experiences away from London so the rest of the country gets a chance for such an amazing time to be a little closer to home.
I am not affiliated with Secret Cinema or the NEC, but you can buy tickets to Grease: The Live Experience here. Check out my reviews of other events here.