Grease is among the most well-known and successful musicals of all time. The sheer number of times it has been seen on local stages is daunting and keeping it fresh can prove to be a challenge.

The Ojai Arts Center Theater’s current production of the 1971 classic musical Grease is staged in the typical fashion and makes use of the inherent strengths of the script and musical numbers that have made this work a favorite of small theatres across the country for decades. However, it also falls victim to the pitfalls of the notoriety and familiarity that come with a work that is so often performed.

Grease tells the story of bad boy Danny Zuko (Kieran Culliton) and his band of brothers who wreak musical havoc on their 1959 adolescent community. The angelic Sandy Dumbrowski (Kytriena Payseno) provides the love interest as well as the cultural conflict that is the motivating force behind the show. Written in more than a decade after the year in which it is set, the story is made more appealing by the iconic images of leather jackets, high school lockers, hot rods and drive ins that have instant meaning to those of us who fondly remember the era. As Danny and Sandy navigate the waters of young love, the secondary plot lines focus on the sometimes silly and sometimes important themes of growing up, gang affiliations, lost loves, and teen pregnancy.

This local production profoundly misses the full potential that the show holds, but there is some strength within the individual performances. The production elements are less than ideal with an odd color palate selection that seems to be more high school production than high school ambiance. The singers in the cast often lacked character, and major line flubs left the audience at times confused and underwhelmed. Pockets of family members appeared to cheer the songs sung by their loved ones and larger production numbers, but there was very little through line to keep the audience involved over the course of the action. While much if this may be contributed to a lack of artistic daring, some of it was simply due to a lack of performance energy from the cast.

The voices and harmonies showed glimpses of promise, as did the lighting design and some tech elements. The overall tone of this production, however, fails mightily to reach anything past toe-tapping pleasantry. Grease has always been an audience favorite, but when dated themes meet with apathetic presentation, there is no way to catch the lighting in that bottle.