Native tone: Classic musical gets Indigenous twist with 'Bear Grease Live'

Aug. 12—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 Live" is the result, running at The Scottish Rite Temple on Saturday, Aug. 17, and Sunday, Aug. 18.

"My wife says she was conceived while they were watching 'Grease' in a movie theater," RedCloud said with a laugh.

"It's really white for rock 'n' roll."

As they searched for people of color in the 1978 original, the couple decided to Indigenize it three years ago. They've been touring the show ever since.

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."

The songwriters and hip-hop artists added some of their own music and changed the original lines in the movie's songs.

They transformed "Summer Nights" into "Summer Snagging."

"Snagging" is a Native term for hooking up or meeting someone.

"We make it something very joyful," RedCloud said. "It went out of our hands and into the world."

The play sold out in 15 minutes at the Edmonton Fringe Festival. Next summer it will go to off-Broadway at Playhouse 46 at St. Luke's, a nonprofit theater company in New York.

The story is the same: Sandy and Danny are in love. The company personalizes them; in New Mexico, Danny is Danny Yazzie; Sandy is from Hopi Pueblo. They're still working on her last name.

"It's based on an alternate reality," RedCloud said. "We weren't dancing in the streets like John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Our people were robbed of that experience."

The show opens with four Motown songs, including "Only You" by the Platters and "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes. The costumes incorporate touches of Indigenous designs and greaser chic.

Lightning wears a poodle skirt with ribbons; the men don coats with beaded bow ties.

As for the title, it refers to a powerful Native medicine used to grow hair and heal skin.

"We put it on our feet before we dance," RedCloud said. "We smudge and we pray.

"It's not the 'Grease' you expected," he added. "But it's the 'Grease' you need to see."

The all-Indigenous cast (mostly First Nations from Canada) includes Henry Andrade as Danny, Teneil Whiskeyjack as Marty and Tammy Rae as Rezzo.