Skip to main content
Shop Merch Add a Show Listing
My Shows
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!
Home For You Chat My Shows Register/Login Games Grosses

Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

New Post Search Report Abuse Rules

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.

#1

Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 5:24pm

I seem to recall gymnastics Olympic gold medallist Dominique Dawes appeared in the Grease revival back in 1996 or 1997. Whom did she play? And did anyone here see her in the role?

I guess you could consider having her in the show was stunt casting, since the "Mag 7" were so popular after they won the Olympic gold. Have any other Olympians made a Broadway debut?
#4

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 5:32pm

and don't forget about Bruce Jenner in the movie musical, "Can't Stop The Music"!
"I've lost everything! Luis, Marty, my baby with Chris, Chris himself, James. All I ever wanted was love." --Sheridan Crane "Passions" ------- "Housework is like bad sex. Every time I do it, I swear I'll never do it again til the next time company comes."--"Lulu" from "Can't Stop The Music" ----- "When the right doors didn't open for him, he went through the wrong ones" - "Sweet Bird of Youth" ------------ --------- "Passions" is uncancelled! See NBC.com for more info.
#5

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 5:35pm

Didn't see it, but Dawes was a cutie and as the mother of a gymnast I can tell you they are Drama Queens and well trained performers... As I recall the strength of her floor routine was knowing how to play to the crowd.
"I'm a one-eyed Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona, and you can't have a higher handicap than that." ~The ever-great and fabulous Morris K. Udall.
#6

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 6:41pm

^ That's true. Though I think that was both Dominique's strengths. Haha. I didn't know she did that. And I was OBSESSED with the magnificent seven.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#9

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 6:53pm

Eb- I don't even know how to respond to that. Gymnastics does not equal cheerleading.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#10

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 7:02pm

I saw her. She wasn't very good. Not horrible, but not great.

They also threw cheesy gymnastic stunts in there for her and it looked forced and out of place.
#11

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 7:04pm

ashley-
I think it was drawing a comparisson, the two have a lot of similarities, and, at least at the school level, a lot do both.
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
#12

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 7:20pm

Honestly, the only similarity is the small amount of tumbling cheerleaders do. I see no similarities beyond that. There's certainly no pyramids in gymnastics. And I don't see cheerleaders on a balance beam or vault. What other similarities are there? And any gymnast does not have time to do both. As a former competitive gymnast, I know no one that did both at the same time. I could go on with this argument, but it's really not the point of this thread.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#13

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 8:17pm

ashley-
I think it was drawing a comparisson, the two have a lot of similarities, and, at least at the school level, a lot do both.

I can say with all confidence that C has no time for cheerleading -- in fact she only gets three weeks off from 20-26 hours per week of training during the year. One in Spring, one in summer one between Christmas and New Years...
and once they go Optional they only get one week off.
"I'm a one-eyed Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona, and you can't have a higher handicap than that." ~The ever-great and fabulous Morris K. Udall.
#14

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 8:32pm

Exactly.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#15

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 9:13pm

You might want to check your memory tobiasragg... GREASE revival did not play the Broadhurst. It played the Eugene O'Neill for all 4 years. The original GREASE played the Broadhust for a spell.
#16

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/26/07 at 10:54pm

Many gymnasts become cheerleaders once they retire from competitive gymnastics. Cheerleading today is very competitive and they do plenty of advanced tumbling, so ex-gymnasts fit right in.
#17

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/27/07 at 12:56am

Yep.
Those would be the ones who can't cut it in Optionals.
"I'm a one-eyed Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona, and you can't have a higher handicap than that." ~The ever-great and fabulous Morris K. Udall.
#18

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/27/07 at 1:01am

Okay, all gymnasts, nobody here is belitteling you or anything, everyone be happy.

I think that the point is, a cheerleader in Grease seems like less of a stretch for a gymnast than say, Mrs. Lovett... not that cheerleaders and gymnasts are the same, but it's pretty obvious that a cheerleader would be a better fit than most roles in the musical theatre cannon for a competetive gymnast.
"We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in it's flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung, the dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future too." - Tom Stoppard, Shipwreck
#19

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/27/07 at 7:42am

I was in my teens at the time... and loved grease!....(that production had the exclamation point on it!lol)...and I saw it a few times. I loved it...now...I know it wasn't such a great production of the show....(I can still see that theater painted hot pink! yikes)...and it was at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. Dominique Dawes played Patty Simcox, and although of the few times I saw the show, I never saw Dawes in the role...The role, at least as I remember it, in that production, was pretty much a nothing role...with one tiny song in the first act.
#20

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/27/07 at 10:06am

"Yep.
Those would be the ones who can't cut it in Optionals."

Or maybe they would be the ones who want to have a life.
#21

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/27/07 at 10:50am

The original production did run at the Broadhurst.....

Grease, a rock musical about high school students in the 1950s, which moved from the downtown Eden Theatre to the Broadhurst and became the second-longest-running musical in Broadway history (A Chorus Line surpassed it in September 1983)

Grease first opened on February 14, 1972 off Broadway at the Eden Theatre. It ran 128 performances. The rock 'n' roll '50s piece then moved uptown to the Broadhurst Theatre. The amazing production ran a total of 3388 performances, moving to two additional Broadway Theatres.

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/sanfran/s294.html
Playbill Broadhurst History
"I've lost everything! Luis, Marty, my baby with Chris, Chris himself, James. All I ever wanted was love." --Sheridan Crane "Passions" ------- "Housework is like bad sex. Every time I do it, I swear I'll never do it again til the next time company comes."--"Lulu" from "Can't Stop The Music" ----- "When the right doors didn't open for him, he went through the wrong ones" - "Sweet Bird of Youth" ------------ --------- "Passions" is uncancelled! See NBC.com for more info.
#22

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/27/07 at 3:56pm

"Yep.
Those would be the ones who can't cut it in Optionals."

Or maybe they would be the ones who want to have a life.

Let me just clarify myself a bit-
I have nothing against cheerleading...indeed the irony is I actively try to encourage C go to college on a cheerleading scholarship rather than to pursue gymnastics after high school for exactly that reason,. I want her to have a life, alas she is only 10 and her only goal is to make the elite level so there is no discussing this with her is any form or fashion right now.

But, to compare them is like comparing success in community theater to being successful Broadway. While they have the same basic essentials -- tumbling, smiles, magnetic personalties -- put them side by side and compare the handstands, tumbling, and energy and there is just simply no comparison.
"I'm a one-eyed Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona, and you can't have a higher handicap than that." ~The ever-great and fabulous Morris K. Udall.

Updated On: 3/27/07 at 03:56 PM

#23

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/27/07 at 4:13pm

Radigal- you are my new favorite person. re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#24

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/27/07 at 4:45pm

ashley - -- that's sweet, thanks. Call me a stickler if you will, but one ought never compare apples to oranges.
"I'm a one-eyed Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona, and you can't have a higher handicap than that." ~The ever-great and fabulous Morris K. Udall.
#25

re: Gymnast Dominique Dawes in Grease

Posted: 3/27/07 at 4:57pm

I am a former gymnast and a former flag girl. Neither one is cheerleading. Gymnastics is ways harder. I doubt that flag twirling is harder, but it's different.
Megan Mullally as Karen Walker on Will and Grace: "Tell me more. Tell me more. Like does he have a car?"

← Back to Message Board

BroadwayWorld TV

View all Videos

Ticket Central
Ticket Central
Ticket Central
Hot Show
Tickets From $59
Hot Show
Tickets From $65
Hot Show
Tickets From $59
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
More Hot Shows Discounts
Recommended For You