Every few years or so, a movie comes out and 20 - 30 minutes, you realize you are watching an instant classic. Like Grease, for example. It’s got everything you could ask for …underage drinking, teen pregnancy scare, singers who can't act, actors who can't sing, and a plot so corny it should have its own husk. Which is why when I heard that there would be a sing-a-long playing at The Loft, I knew I had to go!
Sadly though, no one wanted to go with me. It’s almost as if they were embarrassed to be seen among fans dressed up like the characters, singing all the songs and dancing the hand jive in the aisles. But lucky for me, there was one friend, whose life motto was, “I may not be able to sing, but I sure can do one helluva ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You!”
Friday night, Hadassah and I made our way to The Loft, with little bottles of alcohol and wine stuffed in our pockets. We weren’t dressed as the characters, since we figured it would be more fun to watch gay men dress up as tough guys in leather jackets and perform synchronized dance moves in the aisles while singing their hearts out to Olivia Newton John's ballad. Instead, it was the lesbians who dressed up, which really wasn’t as fun, since none of them could sing or dance. But it was still fun just seeing the whole overgrown gang on the big screen with little yellow words all along the bottom.
After the movie there was a Q & A with three of the characters from the movie; Edd Byrnes (Vince Fontaine), Annette Charles (Cha-Cha DiGregorio) and Eddie Deezen (Eugene Felnic), which couldn’t have been more awesome. What wasn’t awesome was the fact that time has been totally cruel to Edd Byrnes. And judging by the fact that he was charging $25 for his 1996 biography, which sells on eBay for about $2.99, time obviously hasn’t been kind to his mentality. Time was, however, kind to Eddie, who I swear looks exactly the same and to his costar, Annette. Oh, Annette…
She was actually one of main reasons for going there. Ever since I can remember, I always liked Cha Cha, which isn’t really all that shocking since I’ve always adored troubled characters at a very young age. Like Ernie, Miss Piggy, Cruella De Vil. I mean, who didn’t wonder what a coat made out of puppies would feel like? And who doesn’t love the character of Cha Cha, the best dancer at St. Bernadette’s with the worst reputation and her hot tranny looks?
It was such a surreal moment walking up to that stage and that cheap card table and know that I was standing in the presence of cult cinema royalty. And it was even more cooler to know that Cha Cha was now a professor at some college in L.A. teaching communications, which is totally my field of expertise…or at least will be once I finish school. By the end of the night, I got the scarf Cha Cha threw out into the crowd, an autograph, and I got to do the cha cha with Cha Cha. I’d show pictures, but my “Hopelessly Devoted” friend was hopelessly passed out on one of the theater’s red velvet seats. And even though I didn’t get to ride that infamous Grease Lightening into that malt shop in the sky, it was still one heck of a womp bop a looma, a womp bam boom night.
Sadly though, no one wanted to go with me. It’s almost as if they were embarrassed to be seen among fans dressed up like the characters, singing all the songs and dancing the hand jive in the aisles. But lucky for me, there was one friend, whose life motto was, “I may not be able to sing, but I sure can do one helluva ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You!”
Friday night, Hadassah and I made our way to The Loft, with little bottles of alcohol and wine stuffed in our pockets. We weren’t dressed as the characters, since we figured it would be more fun to watch gay men dress up as tough guys in leather jackets and perform synchronized dance moves in the aisles while singing their hearts out to Olivia Newton John's ballad. Instead, it was the lesbians who dressed up, which really wasn’t as fun, since none of them could sing or dance. But it was still fun just seeing the whole overgrown gang on the big screen with little yellow words all along the bottom.
After the movie there was a Q & A with three of the characters from the movie; Edd Byrnes (Vince Fontaine), Annette Charles (Cha-Cha DiGregorio) and Eddie Deezen (Eugene Felnic), which couldn’t have been more awesome. What wasn’t awesome was the fact that time has been totally cruel to Edd Byrnes. And judging by the fact that he was charging $25 for his 1996 biography, which sells on eBay for about $2.99, time obviously hasn’t been kind to his mentality. Time was, however, kind to Eddie, who I swear looks exactly the same and to his costar, Annette. Oh, Annette…
She was actually one of main reasons for going there. Ever since I can remember, I always liked Cha Cha, which isn’t really all that shocking since I’ve always adored troubled characters at a very young age. Like Ernie, Miss Piggy, Cruella De Vil. I mean, who didn’t wonder what a coat made out of puppies would feel like? And who doesn’t love the character of Cha Cha, the best dancer at St. Bernadette’s with the worst reputation and her hot tranny looks?
It was such a surreal moment walking up to that stage and that cheap card table and know that I was standing in the presence of cult cinema royalty. And it was even more cooler to know that Cha Cha was now a professor at some college in L.A. teaching communications, which is totally my field of expertise…or at least will be once I finish school. By the end of the night, I got the scarf Cha Cha threw out into the crowd, an autograph, and I got to do the cha cha with Cha Cha. I’d show pictures, but my “Hopelessly Devoted” friend was hopelessly passed out on one of the theater’s red velvet seats. And even though I didn’t get to ride that infamous Grease Lightening into that malt shop in the sky, it was still one heck of a womp bop a looma, a womp bam boom night.
|