The Power of Zuko Compels You

The continued popularity of Grease is not to be questioned or contemplated — just surrender to it. Allow the winsome beauty of "Beauty School Dropout" to wash over you; give in to the power of "Summer Nights"; revel, completely and fully, in the onanistic ecstasy of "Born to Hand Jive." Allow the thrill of sock hops, car racing and furtive, fumbling teenage sex to draw you back in time to the budding days of the teen revolution. And if nothing else compels you, believe in the glory of the pompadour and the poodle skirt, and believe that a couple of mismatched, crazy kids named Sandy and Danny can emerge wiser and even more in love at the end of one wild senior year at Rydell High. Stages St. Louis unleashes the apotheosis of Grease at 8 p.m. Friday, July 21, at the Robert G. Reim Theatre (111 South Geyer Road, Kirkwood; 314-821-2407 or www.stagesstlouis.org); shows are at 4 and 8 p.m. today, and continue Tuesday through Sunday (Friday, July 21, through Sunday, August 20). Tickets are $15 to $45.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: July 21. Continues through Aug. 20