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?

[Kringas]

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

Cathy Rigby

[Broadway Dancer]

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

http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=89353

[jimnysf]

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

and don't forget about Bruce Jenner in the movie musical, "Can't Stop The Music"!

[RadiGal2]

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.

[ashley0139]

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.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 6:43pm

She played the Cheerleader, of course.

[eb412]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 6:43pm

a gymnast as a peppy cheerleader?? not quite a stretch

[ashley0139]

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

Eb- I don't even know how to respond to that. Gymnastics does not equal cheerleading.

[Becky]

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.

[husk_charmer]

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.

[ashley0139]

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.

[RadiGal2]

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.

[ashley0139]

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

Exactly.

[Flaunt It]

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.

[siny]

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.

[RadiGal2]

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

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

[aspiringactress]

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.

[Rypm25]

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.

[siny]

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.

[jimnysf]

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

[RadiGal2]

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.

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

[ashley0139]

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

Radigal- you are my new favorite person.

[RadiGal2]

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.

[LyTeMyCanDyI]

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.