One of the most hyped productions in Palmerton Area Drama Club’s history kicks off at 7 p.m. today when the high school auditorium transforms into Grease’s Rydell High.

Advance tickets for the three-night run, Thursday-Saturday, went fast. Tonight’s performance is sold out. There are limited tickets for Friday and Saturday.

“The buzz on social media has been more than we could have anticipated and as of this moment,” Brent Harris, drama club director, said on Tuesday.

“We have never seen anything like this before and the rapid ticket sales are only increasing the energy levels for us as the show gets closer and closer. The atmosphere for these performances is really shaping up to be something quite special.”

Tickets can be purchased online at www.palmertondramaclub.com/tickets. Doors open at 6 p.m. each night.

It’s been a while, Harris said, since Palmerton’s cast could play easily relatable characters.

“Recent shows such as Fiddler on the Roof and White Christmas asked for them to portray characters whose lives were quite different from their own and we talked a great deal about how those characters would think, feel, and act to try to get them right,” Harris said.

Grease, however, not only provides a high school setting, but the role of teenagers on the verge of graduation and independence is the current reality for each student.

“From the onset, I think our cast knew who they were portraying,” Harris said. “This made it easier to transition into conversations about energy levels, building excitement, and adding the small details to the show. We’ve really had a lot of fun putting this one together.”

With Palmerton having started junior drama club productions a number of years ago, many members of the cast and crew have been around the program for a long time. Some students, Harris said, have been in as many as 15 shows. Some extracurricular groups in schools around the area were not able to weather the COVID-19 storm and bring back strong numbers after the pandemic, but that hasn’t been the case for the drama club.

“For those students who have been with us since they were doing junior productions like Mulan, they have had quite the ride,” Harris said. “They spent years climbing the ladder to learn the ropes and get bigger parts. Then, just as they were going to hit their stride with Big Fish, we locked down and things came to a halt. They could have called it quits at that point and said they had done enough. Instead, they signed up for online theater lessons. They learned how to act for the camera as our stage crew shifted to learn film production so that we could produce Radium Girls as an online play.”

All of that persistence has paid off as the group prepares to perform a beloved classic with a story and musical numbers that should have a near sold-out crowd singing along with every line.

“The other directors and I are so fortunate to have had this opportunity to work with this group over the years,” Harris said. “I could not be more proud of their willingness to tough it out when things weren’t going as we had hoped ... and to really elevate their efforts and talents when the club needed it most.”

The anticipation for Grease led the club to hold in-person advance ticket sales for the first time. It’s the only time that waiting to buy a ticket at the door leaves a potential audience member rolling the dice on whether or not they’ll get in.

“We are on track to have only a very limited number of seats, if any, available for purchase at the door,” Harris said. “I remember when I was directing my first show years ago and feeling the excitement of selling over 100 tickets per night. Now, we’re getting close to sell-out performances and the support that the community is showing for our students and their shows is just remarkable. We cannot wait to get this show up in front of a packed house.”

Flowers, T-shirts, and candy-grams will be available in the lobby before all performances courtesy of the Palmerton Drama Parents Club.