For most fans of the musical “Grease,” the show is just a touching, funny love story that takes place far away at Rydell High School in Chicago. But for Grady students, it may hit closer to home than you think.
Bronte Woodard, a Grady alum from the class of 1958, wrote the screenplay for the movie adaptation of the popular musical in 1978. He died in 1980 at age 39 of Hepatitis.
Woodard began perfecting his talent early, as a member of the Grady dramatics club. The dramatics club wrote and produced skits to perform at assemblies, according to the Grady’s 1958 Orator yearbook.
Woodard was also a writer for the Southerner during his time at Grady. Janice Moore, a 1957 graduate and Southerner alumnus, remembers Woodard, who went by Myron in high school, as a comedian.
“Everyone would remember Myron,” Moore said. “He was friendly and funny — hilarious actually!”
According to Moore, many of Woodard’s classmates were not surprised to learn he went on to write the screenplay for a hit movie 20 years later. She remembers how she found out of his success with “Grease.”
“I’m sure that Myron’s mother also informed my mother of the news,” Moore said. “That may be where I first heard the good news. I was not really surprised because Myron was so creative, so funny and witty.”
Coincidentally, Grady’s musical theater class is putting on a production of “Grease” this year, set to premiere Jan. 12, 13 and 14.
Lee Pope, musical theater teacher and the show’s director, chose “Grease’’ for its crowd-pleasing reputation.
“I vowed I’d never do `Grease,’” Pope said. “I thought that it was overdone…and then I realized, everybody wants to see it.”
In honor of Woodard, the cast will have a matinee showing of the performance exclusively for Grady alumni. For Pope, it’s a chance to connect with the alumni who may have contributed to the culture shown in the movie.
“I’m really big on nostalgia,” Pope said. “I’m really big on school spirit and people connecting .… I think that Grady has a tradition of pride in the graduates; so it just seemed like a natural fit.”
Cast members feel the pressure of performing for an audience filled with alumni.
“It’s more intimidating,” said senior Anna Hutchins, who was cast as Frenchy in the Grady production. “The expectations will be set really high because [Woodard] knew the characters really well, and since his classmates will be watching the show, we want to live up to their expectations.”
Although Woodard did not write the original musical, he adapted the script for the movie, which has some substantial changes from the musical. Some of these changes may reflect the culture of Grady in the 1950’s.
“A lot of the well-known songs were written for the movie and weren’t in the original musical, and vice versa,” Hutchins said. “It makes it even more special to think that some of the experiences he had at Grady could have influenced the movie.”
Pope believes that Woodard may have even had influence over scouting locations for the movie.
“If you watch the opening of the movie, when they show the outside of Rydell High, it looks like Grady,” Pope said.
During his short lifetime, Woodard also wrote the screenplay for the musical “Can’t Stop the Music”, a pseudo-biography of the disco group Village People. The production was not nearly as widely acclaimed as “Grease”.
“Can’t Stop the Music” is notorious for being the recipient of the first Golden Raspberry Award in 1980, an award given to the worst screenplay of the past year. Overall, the movie was considered a failure, with Nell Minow of Yahoo Movies calling it “an absolute trainwreck of a movie” and an 8% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with 100% being the most positive rating.
Woodard also wrote a novel in 1977, called “Meet Me at the Melba”, which follows a couple in Atlanta during the 1930’s on their journey to find love. According to Moore, it was based on the courtship of Woodard’s own parents and features many real Atlanta locations and people. The Melba was a cafeteria in Atlanta, and Woodard also bases characters off of people at Grady.
“Mr. Hilderbrand [a character in the novel] was a history teacher at Grady and Rasnake’s Fine Foods [a store in the novel] was based on Betty Rasnake, a girl in Myron’s class,” Moore said.
Grady musical theater students are excited that their connection to the production gives them a special chance to showcase their talents.
“This show already has so much energy, and knowing that our audience has connections to the screenwriter is super special,” Bray said. “It’s a unique opportunity for the cast to bring the musical back to life.”
