It is 1959 at Howe Sound Secondary. Danny is being coy with his alpha male friends about his summer romance with Sandy.
The Pink Ladies are having fun with it all.
If you haven't guessed already, the Squamish high school theatre students are putting on the musical "Grease."
The show at the Eagle Eye Theatre runs from March 4 to 7 under the direction of teachers Sandra Droulis and Fran Booth.
Grade 11 students Ben Warkentin and Shannon Moran play the leads Danny and Sandy.
This is the first year of musical theatre for Warkentin while Moran has performed in theatre for several years.
(Moran has an understudy, Zora Jajic, who will be performing in two of the shows as Sandy.)
Both said the acting and singing gives them a chance to express themselves in ways they don't or can't in a normal school day.
And it is fun, Moran added to enthusiastic nods from Warkentin as castmate Lucy Gill warmed up her voice in an adjacent room for her role as Rizzo.
The students say that though set in a pre-feminist, pre-#MeToo era, the story still resonates.
"In terms of the actual characters that people play, it is very similar to how we interact with our own friends, with the T Birds, for example," said Warkentin. "I would say it is more similar than different."
Moran said for the most part she agrees and can relate to the characters, but she acknowledged that some of the ways girls were treated back in the day doesn't sit well in 2020.
"The way that girls were treated back then is quite different and the expectations for them to just do what they were told is a bit concerning," she said.
One of the main messages of the play is that people change, but Moran said she thinks today the idea is that people should be who they are, not have to change for the opposite sex, or anyone else.
"At the end of the show, both characters have pretty dramatic changes. Danny becomes more willing to change and becomes a nicer person and Sandy becomes a little more tough," Moran said. "Everybody changes a little bit."
Warkentin said he hopes that audiences who pay to come to the show, see how much fun the cast had and how much work they put into it.
"Even people who haven't been doing stuff like this for a while can really put the effort in and make something that is like, 'Wow, this is really impressive,'" he said.
Though they are performing the high school version of the musical, there is adult language and themes throughout, the pair say.
"It is mainly the high school [version] — we've taken from the Broadway version too," said Warkentin.
Shows start at 7 p.m. The Saturday matinee starts at 2 p.m. Tickets are on sale at Howe Sound Secondary.
