“Bear Grease” is billed as a reimagining of the musical Grease, “told through an Indigenous lens” by a husband-wife duo who call themselves LightningCloud. But this proudly amateurish production, opening tonight Off-Broadway at St. Luke’s Theater, offers little evidence they have even seen a live version of “Grease”  — nor any professional stage musical. 

Videos take up at least half the two-hour running time, a mish-mash that includes a clip from the 1978  movie featuring Eve Arden as Principal McGee; opening credits; promos for “Bear Grease” and for its merchandise; original cartoons; parody commercials (at least I hope they’re parodies); scenes of the actors backstage in their supposedly true personas courting or confronting one another or just shooting the bull. 

Interspersed through all this are fifteen musical numbers, not all of them from “Grease,” some meant as parodies, performed with largely unvarying choreography and little vocal distinction.  The only other live, in-person moment is a hip-hop ad-lib by co-creator Henry Cloud Andrade.

It’s all such a hodge-podge that about forty minutes in, Andrade said “we hope you enjoy the show” – as if it hadn’t begun yet.

There is a good reason to root for “Bear Grease” despite the actual show. It began in “Treaty 6 territory in Alberta, land and traditional territories of the Nehiyaw (Cree), Denesuline’ (Dene), Nakota Sioux (Stoney), Anishinaabe (Saulteaux) and Niitsitapi (Blackfoot)”  It has grown, they say, into “a touring phenomenon,” having performed at more than 200 venues.

The ten-member cast is, as promised, all-Indigenous.  Some of the characters they portray are puns (Rizzo is now Rezzo, Kenickie is now Canuckie.) In the program, there is a glossary of some thirty indigenous terms used in the show, some of it fascinating (“Kokopelli: A fertility deity and trickster in Southwestern Indigenous mythology,  often shown playing a flute.”) some of it not so much (“Bepsi: Rez slang for Pepsi,” “Weenuk: Slang for ‘weenie’ or small penis”)  An undeniable highlight of the show is Tammy Rae Lamouche as Rezzo singing a song entitled “Wichihin,” which turns out to be “Stand By Me” in the Cree Nêhiyawêwin language. There are a few traditional dance moves. There is also some recognizable Indigenous humor. In one video, the men sit around backstage debating the question: “Would you glue your penis to your thigh for a million dollars?”

I say recognizable because deadpan absurdities were also central to “Reservation Dogs,” one of my favorite TV series, created by Indigenous writers Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, and   Between Two Knees, the terrific theater piece by the Indigenous comedy troupe the 1491s was also comically bawdy, and anarchically overstuffed. But there the similarities end. 

The origins of “Bear Grease” are so inspiring, and the people connected to it are so infectiously eager and excited to be playing Off-Broadway, that you might want to will yourself into seeing the show as the phenomenon they say it to be.

Bear Grease
Theater at St. Luke’s through September 7
Running time: Two hours including intermission
Tickets: $60 – $120
Written and created by LightningCloud (Crystle Lightning and Henry Cloud Andrade)
Directed by Crystle Lightning
Video production by Dustin Birdie Vince, costume design by Nipiy Iskwew, lighting design by Jeremy (Ill Wero) Echols, background art by Diego Loza
Cast: Bryce Morin as “Danny”, Melody McArthur as “Sandy”, Tammy Rae as “Rezzo”, Allyssa Trujillo as “Foxy”, Rodney Mcleod as “Canuckie”, Skylene Gladue (Nipîy Iskwew) as “Jan”, Justin Giehm as “Sonny Boy”, Raven Bright as “Roger”, Haley Robinson as “Marty”, and Mikey Harris as “Butta.”