"Grease," the musical - written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey - is a modern miracle of the stage - a show that retains its popularity after over 30 years, despite the fact that, aside from a few good tunes here and there, "Grease" is a fairly terrible play.

It’s true. Which is to say, that’s my opinion.

Or visa versa.

Anyway, how about a little ‘Grease’ history.

When "Grease" first appeared in 1971, it was a different play than the one we see on stage today. It was ... interesting. It was raunchy, edgy, scandalous - a dangerously subversive attempt to show that our nostalgic view of 1950s teenage innocence was all smoke and

mirrors. For one thing, that teenagers smoked.

"Grease" put a lot of cigarettes in the mouths of teenagers.

Scandalous.

That part doesn’t seem so scandalous anymore, because ... well, now we KNOW that teenagers smoke. The most scandalous thing

about the average production of Grease these days is how badly the actors handle the smoking. There’s an ash-wielding visual style that experienced smokers have, and when it’s not present, when actors pinch their fake cigarettes as if they were toothpicks that might develop teeth and bite them, it just ruins the effect, not to mention any hint of scandal.

Anyway.

Since that very first version of "Grease," the show almost instantly began losing coolness and edge, beginning with the play’s move to Broadway in 1972, where it was seriously toned down, all the way through to the hit 1978 movie, and a series of subsequent revivals. What remains, in the current version of Grease available to community theaters and schools, is less a play than a series of broadly sketched vignettes fill of cartoonish teenage stereotypes, each scene interspersed with fifty’s-style ballads and high-energy song-and-dance numbers that, depending on how well they are executed, are often the only reason to see a new presentation of

"Grease."

Which brings me to the current production at 6Th Street Playhouse.

Using one of the latest script dilutions, the sprightly, effervescent

cast - under the direction of choreographer-director Staci Arriaga -

does a very good job with the material, putting emphasis on the best

elements of the piece, unleashing a first rate bee-bop-a-doo-wop

dance show, supported by some outstandingly good singing voices. The group numbers particularly, with inventive dance moves and

attractive performers giving out everything from back-flips to the hand jive, are consistently fun, engaging, and occasionally thrilling.

Those musical numbers - easily the best I've seen in a community or college-level production - are so good, I found myself longing for the next one to begin during the play’s many “story sequences.”

"Grease," of course, is the story of tough guy Danny Zuko and his on-again-off-again courtship of good girl Sandy, as they make it through a year of high school in a Chicago suburb.

The characters, though amusing, are now so over-the-top they make the kids from Scooby Doo look like something from an Arthur Miller play. Fortunately, at 6th Street, Street, the Actors know how to sing, and popular local actor Anthony Guzman, as Tony, reveals an

amazing falsetto I didn’t know he had in his vocal toolbox.

Supporting players include an outrageously good April Krautner as sex-kitten Marty, an acrobatic Trevor Hoffman as the car-loving,

gang-fighting delinquent Kenickie, and Sidney McNulty as the endearing drop-out Frenchy.

And with strong musical direction by Nathan Riebli and a sensational band, the show soars every time it sings, which thankfully, is often.

"Grease" runs Thursday–Sunday, through July 6 at 6th Street Playhouse. 6thstreetplayhouse.com