We were lucky enough to catch some BTS action of Grease the Musical opening on Friday, April 7 at The World Trade Centre and we still can’t catch our breath. If this was the rehearsal, we can only imagine how high-octane the actual show will be!

The full cast

The set at Zabeel Hall at World Trade Centre is still under construction and we were informed that the seating arrangement is yet to be finalised. In the midst of all the hammering and banging, the cast and crew got up on stage and started their warm-up. Everything from stretches and push-ups to cardio and crunches… it was all pretty intense and made our entire week’s worth of gym sessions look like child’s play.

The very intense warm-up!

And then Summer Nights happened which had us completely transfixed. Greased Lightening followed and that was a true showstopper! (yup, we sang along)
The cast is superb, the singing and dancing next level and all those rippling muscles were realllly easy on the eyes

Summer Nights had us singing along karaoke style

The guys nailed Greased Lightening

Once rehearsal was done, we got to interview Danny (Justin Thomas) and Sandy (Jessica Paul). He’s 25, she’s 22… ah so young. He’s seriously good looking and ripped, and she’s adorably cute. But before you get your hopes up, he’s been in a relationship for three years and will soon marry his very own real-life Sandy.

Heart. Broken.

“This is the first time in Dubai for both of us and we definitely want to hit the water park in Atlantis,” says Jessica. Apart from that, they’re pretty confused about where to go and what to do; can’t blame them really… we are definitely spoiled for choice in Dubai and get confused trying to figure where to order pizza from! “We do get some time off… if we do the show in the evening, we have time in the day to explore,” says Justin.

When asked about how long they’ve been doing the show, Justin told us, “We performed for a three-month period over Christmas and while Jessica’s played Sandy before, I was in a different part in the musical and this is the first time playing Danny for me, so that’s gonna be fun.”

Adorable Danny and Sandy, played by Justin Thomas and Jessica Paul

It’s not all fun and games though; they’ve both had formal training in music and dance and “while you’re in a show you don’t have to practice every day and do get downtime, in-between shows, or in-between jobs, you have to constantly keep training,” says Jessica.

They’ve been rehearsing for a month now and are really keen to see how the audience reacts to the show. Jessica is a bit nervous about performing but they are super excited and can’t wait to show Dubai that Grease is totally THE WORD. 

Catch Grease The Musical from April 7 to 13 at The World Trade Centre. Tickets are priced from Dhs150 and you can buy your tickets here.