Baby it’s cold outside – definitely  two hairnets weather. I actually wore two pairs of gloves and still my fingers were cold. Not only that but recently with the dwindling number of mask wearers,  I’ve taken to wearing two masks! Now this has not been easy, despite several different combinations being tried. I tend to struggle with the blue medical masks as one size fits all is not necessarily the case. I admire those who can wear them snug to the face, with no gaps and not having to double-loop round the ears. Buying a box from Home Bargains was a mistake as a bargain it was not. So long were the elastics  I’d to knot them, and attempting to wear two was unsuccessful when tying them together only for them to slide around. Next came a blue  one underneath with a navy spotted fabric one over the top, but that slipped too. Cotton masks were next, a Primark black  one with the initial ‘M’ on it proved to be a little small so covered that with a larger one. This resulted in the smaller one dropping down and me almost eating it. At the Varieties I wore a comfortable cotton mask topping it with our ‘Leeds Heritage Theatres’ issue. Unfortunately I hadn’t factored in  the wearing of Christmas earrings meant adjustment of the long drops, rather than studs, through the ear loops too.  All was well until the temperature rose in the auditorium when the double act of masks almost stopped me breathing. The top layer was duly relegated to my waistcoat pocket as the exuberant ‘Let Me Entertain You’ hurled us towards the interval.

In Asda whilst wearing the customary  couple – two layers of cotton coverings – I struggled beyond belief as the ear loops  caught up in my glasses, all encased under my pull- on fleecy hat. The glasses were anchored but the masks underneath moved upwards, to be met with the sliding down of the hat, resulting in the top mask being ripped away as I ventured down the soft fruits and salad aisle.

I am just pleased that from Tuesday, face coverings are compulsory/mandatory on public transport and in shops, when at least I can return to the singular.

Writers Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s incessantly cheerful show opened on Broadway in 1972, although it is set a decade or more before that, when assassinations, riots and defeat in Vietnam had yet to take some of the shine off the American dream.

The  1978 film of the musical, starring, irresistibly, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, shows a bright, all-white America; a place of wide skies, perpetual sunshine and perfect health, where  even the school kids have money to spare. This was, of course, fantasy but we could overlook that because it was a thoroughly enjoyable, foot-tapping fantasy.

The challenge facing this production is how to maintain the feel-good factor when it’s freezing outside, we are living in the shadow of a pandemic, money is short and we are sitting in a Victorian  theatre that looks nothing at all like California, or whatever Shangri-La the show’s  Rydell High School is supposed to be set in.

The show’s director, Nikolai Foster, has realised he can’t replicate Hollywood in Yorkshire and so he relies on old-fashioned theatrical strengths. There are colourful, exuberant costumes,  a versatile set that can be a pyjama party one minute and a hand-jive  competition the next, and a mastery of ensemble singing and dancing which means (very unfairly) that you don’t much notice the sets anyway.

The performances are stunningly good. The film has its stars in Travolta and Newton-John but the stage version cannot use cinematic techniques such as lingering close-ups or soft lighting to glamorise Danny (Dan Partridge) and Sandy (Ellie Kingdon), who are, in any case, supposed to be ordinary kids.

We see, instead of two superstars, two very energetic and accomplished performers immersing themselves in a joint enterprise, choreographed by Arlene Phillips, which builds into one of the most thrilling musical finales I can remember.

The  biggest name in the show is Peter Andre , who appears as Teen Angel and Vince  Fontaine  in certain performances only, although the understudy we saw was a very fine substitute,

There are three new songs in the show, which blend in so easily you might not notice them, but this isn’t a radical reworking. The teenage smoking, drinking and snogging levels are still alarmingly high by modern standards and the diversity levels still low. It’s far from a perfect world, but, on a chilly winter evening it’ll do very well.

Grease the Musical is on at The Grand till 4 Dec, book tickets here.

Good company, a cuppa, some lunch and a catch up; wonderful! We once again enjoyed some time together last week at the ‘Stick or Twist’ in the centre of Leeds. We were there in August as well and will likely go back into town in the New Year all being well and if safe to do so. If you would like to join us then get in touch. Lisa 07436 530073 or email lisa@caringtogether.org.uk