THEATER REVIEW : <i> Slick </i> Is the Word for Pasadena’s ‘Grease’

Poor Davy Jones. As a ‘50s deejay in the touring version of “Grease,” the former Monkee looks as if he’s lost the bop in his a-wop-bop-a-loo-ah.

The pop culture nostalgia of the Jim Jacobs-Warren Casey musical--a tribute to sex, cars and rock ‘n’ roll at fictional Rydell High School--should come naturally to Jones, whose own fame derives from a made-for-TV rock band almost three decades old.

But in the Pasadena Civic Auditorium show, a strangely lackluster Jones gets lost in a swirl of fluorescent-colored kitsch. During a brief curtain-raiser devoted to Top 40 hits from the Eisenhower era, the singer-actor invited young women from the audience onstage to dance. Virtually all of them did so with more aplomb than their stiff-looking host.

Jones may be forgiven for not getting worked up over “Grease.” Slight even by the lax standards of Broadway musicals, it’s a show of few principles, thematic or artistic. Don’t have a boffo closing number for the first act? Just add, as the current producers did, a ‘50s pop standard, the Skyliners’ “Since I Don’t Have You.”

Hey, while we’re at it, why not throw in the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer”?

Fortunately, as the road version of a recent big-budget revival (which played Orange County last spring en route to Broadway), this “Grease” at least benefits from the showmanship of Tommy Tune, who supervised this production and has a way of making vacuity easy on the eyes.

Though Tune associate Jeff Calhoun is credited as director and choreographer, the master’s influence is evident in the cheeky staging and lollipop hues that enliven almost every number.

Thus is the quirky and digressive “Beauty School Dropout” turned into a showstopper, as the Teen Angel (a suitably hammy Kevin-Anthony) descends from the malt shop in the sky sporting a towering orange pompadour and singing in a Little Richard-like falsetto. Elsewhere Tune and Calhoun make good use of props, including glow-in-the-dark Hula-Hoops, school lockers and fancy hubcaps.

Yet for all their effort, Tune and company never find a story, nor a way of making the book seem any less crude. It’s difficult to charm viewers with a love song about the joys of dropping trousers and mooning passersby. And even today, some may find the profanity spouted by leather-clad toughs a little unsettling, especially in what is ostensibly a family show.

Hedging their bets, the producers have packaged a triumvirate of stars to lead what is essentially an ensemble show. Besides the uninspired Jones, there’s ‘70s singing sensation Rex Smith as the benign and slightly goofy greaser Danny Zuko, who falls for the class goody-two-shoes, Sandy Dumbrowski (Trisha M. Gorman), and Sally Struthers as the frumpy teacher Miss Lynch.

Though “Grease” has given many long-in-tooth actors the opportunity to play teen-agers, Smith is a bit too far of a stretch, despite a fine singing voice. Struthers has some funny early moments, though her Pollyanna shtick wears thin after a while.

Rizzo, the girl gang leader whom Rosie O’Donnell parlayed into a starring role on Broadway, was played at Tuesday night’s performance by Wendy Springer, standing in for Angela Pupello, who was ill.

“Grease,” Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Tonight-Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Sunday. $27.50-$50. (213) 480-3232. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.