The production was billed as "Restored. Revised. R-Rated. Returned to Chicago."
It was reported as a revival of the original 1971 Chicago world premiere version. That version had many songs and a lot of material that didn't make it to the New York production. However, this revival was a mix of various drafts of the Chicago premiere, drafts of the off-Broadway production, and the final draft of the Broadway production.
The production instead aimed to recreate the picture of teenagers from working class families on Chicago's northwest side in the 1950s. It restored references to Chicago landmarks and a lot of 1950s slang. Places like Polk Brothers (a large home appliance store in Chicago), Carson's (Carson Pirie Scott department store), the Palmer House (famed Chicago hotel), Elmer and the Elephant (Chicago-based childrens show), Jim Lounsbury (host of a sock-hop television program), and Field's (Marshall Field's department store, now Macy's).
In 2009, writer Jim Jacobs was asked by Chicago Tribune theatre writer Chris Jones which of his productions was his favorite. Jacobs replied that it was the original production in Chicago in 1971. Jones then wrote an article challenging any Chicago producer to revive the original version. Director PJ Paparelli partnered with the American Theatre Company to take up the challenge.
The production was retitled "The Original Grease" because the language and material were potentially objectionable and the producers didn't want people bringing their children, thinking that it was the squeeky clean version that they're used to seeing.
Changes made:
- Originally Miss Lynch and Mr. Devlin presided over the 10th year reunion that bookends the show. Because the new production was set in 2011, it became a 50th year reunion. As Miss Lynch and Mr. Devlin wouldn't be...available...Patty Simcox and Eugene Florczyk were put in charge of the reunion.
- Since 1972, the cast has played themselves at the reunion. In this production, older actors played Patty and Eugene.
- In the 1971 Chicago production, Danny's right-hand man was named Miller and Kenickie was a sixth Burger Palace Boy (the sixth being cut before the show was done off-Broadway). Because audiences are used to Danny's second being Kenickie, the sixth Burger Palace Boy was restored and renamed Miller.
- A large scene in the boiler room of the school was restored, which had been cut during the 1971 rehearsals. The scene has the Burger Palace Boys in the boiler room with Coach Sakowitz during an H-Bomb drill.
- The song "How Big I'm Gonna Be" was written by Jim Jacobs for this production using Warren Casey's lyrics (and chords over the words) for an unwritten song.
- Patty Simcox has a crush on Danny, enouraging him to run on the track team. In turn, Danny uses her as a pawn to make Sandy jealous.
- Many other small changes to lines and character development were made.
Characters were cut and renamed during rehearsal. Coach Grabowski became Coach Sakowitz. The role of the janitor was added. All reunion counterparts of the cast except for Patty and Eugene were cut. In the original press release announcing the cast, they were included. See general replacements at the bottom of the credits page for these characters.
Originally set to close June 5. It was extended to August due to strong ticket sales.
On May 21, American Theatre Company hosted nearly 300 Alumni of Taft High School's Class of 1960 during two special alumni performances of the show. Many of the actual "Pink Ladies" and "Burger Palace Boys" that the characters in the play are based on were in attendance.
For the alumni performances, new opening and closing sequences were added. There were also revisions to the show overall. "The Original Grease's reception in Chicago has been overwhelming," director PJ Paparelli said in a statement. "The feedback Jim [Jacobs] and I have received has been extremely helpful in refining this new version. We wanted to introduce a more Chicago-centric opening and closing of the show for Jim's graduating class in addition to other changes that we couldn't make in preparation for opening the show. With a tighter running time and a more heartfelt and Chicago-based bookend for the show, we look forward to sharing the new material with audiences."
