OCEAN CITY — The lead actors in the Ocean City Theatre Company production of “Grease” may love the famous characters they are portraying — Danny Zuko, Sandy, Rizzo and Kenickie — even if they’re not like them in real life.
For them, however, nabbing these roles is like a dream come true.
“I grew up doing shows here with the Ocean City Theatre Company and graduated from the educational program here and now I’m performing here professionally, which is really full circle and really cool,” said Ruby Doran, who is playing Sandy Dumbrowski.
“I am so not Sandy in real life. I’m definitely more of a Rizzo. She has been so much fun and I had a wig designer who asked me my Sandy inspiration … and I said I just love Olivia Newton-John. God rest her soul. I think she played her with such an innocence and naivety but not ignorance or stupidity, and I think that is where she lives,” Doran said. Newton-John was Sandy in the movie version opposite John Travolta, who played Danny Zuko.
“In the movies (Sandy), is from Australia but in the stage version she’s really not from anywhere, but is just the all-American girl next door. So playing into that, getting rid of my Jersey accent has been really fun,” she said, laughing. “I think she is a really, really sweet girl.”
Doran noted her favorite role has been Wednesday Addams in “The Addams Family.”
“I think that is my natural kind of vibe. That was a lot of fun. I’ve done a multitude of shows here with the Junior Company so I grew up doing those. Audrey in ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ was a lot of fun. She is very cute, she has a little Sandy in her as well, very sweet, very girl-next-door-ish,” Doran said. She is a graduate of Egg Harbor Township High School now enrolled at Pace University.
Rizzo is portrayed by Anika Buchanan, who grew up in Cape May Court House, went to Middle Township High School and now lives in New York City, working as an actor.
She said it’s funny that she gets called in to audition for the role of Sandy in other productions of “Grease” because she has long blond hair.
“I feel I’m a solid mix of Sandy and Rizzo. I love Rizzo’s sass,” Buchanan said. “It’s very fun to play. She has a lot of layers to her. It’s been really cool to get to be a part of and it’s been one of my dream roles since I’ve been a kid, so it feels very full-circle moment to play the role.
“It’s interesting to explore that side of myself. I’m a little more laid back as a person and she is a little more feisty, which has been fun,” Buchanan said.
She was always part of the plays and musicals at Middle Township High School, working with Debbie Dalfonso and Karen Sutherland, who plays Mrs. Lynch in the OCTC production.
“She would always work backstage and alter our costumes, so it is so fun we now get to be on stage together,” Buchanan said.
Her experience in high school propelled her to this profession.
“I decided to go to school for this and the rest is history,” she said.
She went to the Institute for American Musical Theater and majored in theater.
“Since then I’ve been doing a bunch of cool, new shows. I just worked on a new Lady Gaga musical, which is super fun, and I just filmed a new show for Netflix that is coming out in a year,” Buchanan said.
Danny and Kenickie
“This is definitely a bucket list role for me,” said Colin Mash, who portrays Danny Zuko, even if he isn’t like the character in real life.
“The movie ‘Grease’ was always around in my household. My mother was at the end of high school when that was (in theaters). I think a guy took her on a date to that movie. She loved it. She would play it.”
Coming from a musical family and a house where soundtracks from musicals were often playing, “Grease” was a favorite. His mom loved Olivia Newtown-John.
He grew up watching John Travolta and wanted to play him because he “was just so charming and suave and everyone knows him for his fabulous dancing. I would see that movie and think, ‘I want to do that,’ and now I’m getting the chance to do that in this fabulous program, this fabulous company, so it’s been really, really exciting.”
Mash can’t wait to sing some of the classic songs, including “Summer Nights” and “You’re the One that I want.”
“It’s so cool Ruby and I get to sing these songs for people who are going to come in expecting those songs and they’re going to sing along in their chairs,” he said.
Mash notes he can relate to the charm the role requires and wishes he had that in real life, but laughs that he’s not like Danny.
“I would say I’m more like a teen angel in my personal life,” he said, laughing and drawing a smile from Doran.
“That’s the thing about performing and being an actor. You get to be anything you want to be. You get to completely transform your persona into something else. That’s really fun for me because that’s what I do for a job. It’s really cool to completely transform myself. You can probably see I’m not a Danny in my personal life, but the people in our cast are like, ‘That is crazy how you can flip a switch like that.’”
“It is,” Doran added. “It’s actually very scary.”
“I can just flip a switch and I’m this tough Danny Zuko type character. That’s really fun,” Mash said.
He left Temple University’s BFA musical theater program because he booked a tour on “Hits, the Musical,” produced by Dionne Warwick. “That was exciting. It opened a lot of doors for me. And then ever since then I’ve been working on different musical theater contracts and I’ve done screen work for M. Night Shyamalan, Fairleigh Dickson University and Amazon Prime and now I’m just working doing the thing.”
Another toughie but softie is Kenickie, portrayed by Maxime Prissert, who split time growing up in France and the United States.
“It was this movie ‘Grease,’ and ‘Annie,’ that I grew up on over and over again. One day it was ‘Annie,’ the next day it was ‘Grease,’” Prissert said. “I loved John Travolta, cool guy, but I always had an affinity toward Kenickie because he cursed more, was just the bad boy. A 6-year-old boy watching ‘Grease’ doesn’t as much fall in love with John Travolta as he gets excited about Kenickie smoking cigarettes and being bad.”
Growing up, the actor spent a decade in upstate New York going to French Woods, where he grew artistically and discovered his passion for the arts. In West Palm Beach, Fla., he attended Bak Middle School of the Arts and Dreyfoos School of the Arts. He then studied musical theater at Elon University, graduating in 2020.
Prissert has an affinity for his character’s flaws.
“Kenickie is whiny, he’s got soft skin, and it’s the people with the softest skin that act the toughest,” he said. “I like that he is sensitive and they’re high schoolers so he hasn’t grown up and learned to accept the vulnerability, he’s still like, huffin’ and puffin’.”
“Grease” is presented by the Ocean City Pops, Ocean City Theater Company and the city of Ocean City. It is on stage at the Hughes Performing Arts Center, Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue, Aug. 6, 7, 9, 13, 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees Aug. 8 and 15. Tickets are $25 to $30 available online at showpass.com/o/city-of-ocean-city.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
