Oftentimes when my cousins post stuff on our Facebook walls they rarely come to fruition in real life. Somehow, though, we pulled off attending Sing-a-long-a Grease at the Tiff Bell Lightbox. And I’m so glad we did.
This cugini crew (cousins crew) started at La Carnita on 106 John Street, Toronto for some Taco lovin. What better way to warm up your vocal cords than eating guac with chips and mini tacos? Laughs come naturally to the Varone family. And once Emily joined us after work, we encouraged our Ryan Gosling look-a-like waiter to guess who the two pairs of sisters were. When we had mentioned we were all cousins, he took a step back, and could see the similarities between us. I’m always curious to know what other people think. Who looks the most like who. Needless to say, he didn’t get it right. He managed to guess one pair of sisters.
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Leave it to the Varone ladies to cause some ruckus upon our arrival at Tiff. With no assigned seats, it was recommended that we arrive early in order to get seats all together. Of course we were far TOO early. A time old Varone curse. With three strangers in line already, we dropped off our stuff before heading to the washroom. Julia, walking in the wrong direction, got a talking to by the so-called “Tiff Bouncer.” So silly.
We collected our goody bags and headed inside. Snagged centre-middle-back seats, of course. Once seated the fun started immediately. A few groups came in costume and even dressed up their kids to look the part of Danny & Sandy. Our host was a comedian with no filter. For those in the audience who had never seen Grease before, ahem, one person…he went on to describe the main characters. With each explanation there was a word or phrase that we practiced screaming out loud when we saw that character on the big screen. The most memorable one was Rizzo. We were told to yell, “MISUNDERSTOOD” each time she appeared. Can’t get much more accurate than that! Randomly throughout the film, a lone yeller would scream this at the top of their lungs. The whole theatre erupted with laughter.
The host also walked us through our props. The most hilarious was the paper bag all the props came in. We were instructed to empty them, and wear them on our heads while Frenchie was serenaded with Beauty School Dropout. There was a blue balloon to be blown up and swayed like a lighter during Blue Moon at the high school dance. I’ve never been able to blow up a balloon. Not even with the encouragement of my cousins to puff out my cheeks more and exhale harder.
A little embarrassed at first to stand up and sing without the consumption of alcohol. Isabella encouraged us to get up and dance. It couldn’t have been more fun to sing-a-long to this classic. I highly recommend it for anyone in the city.
Dee 