GREASY POLE THE MUSICAL Synopsis:

A love letter to Gloucester's Greasy Pole Champions and the Mammas who love them, the play opens in 1931 (the year the Greasy Pole tournament was introduced as part of the St. Peter's Fiesta festivities) in the hot busy kitchen of Mamma Giuseppa Scolafazza "down the Fort," a historic fishing enclave neighborhood of Gloucester immigrants. Her son, Filippo Scolafazza rushes in, begging his mamma to let him walk the greasy pole with his pals. She grabs him hard by the ear and proceeds to lay a curse that no men in her family would ever walk a greasy pole during her festa Di San Pietro.

Progressing through every decade, the family Scolafazza's sons (and one daughter) all musically lament the generational curse that prevents them from vying for a chance to become Greasy Pole champions... until the final, contemporary vignette when the curse is finally broken.

The 9 original songs are inspired by each decade since the 30's, including an Italian tarantella, an Andrews Sisters-style Boogie Woogie, 50's teenage lament Doo-Wop, early Rock n' Roll, Motown, Disco, New Wave, 80's Rock Ballad and more, all with a Greasy Pole theme! Between each vignette, the audience sees a scroll of actual images of Fiesta and the Greasy Pole from every decade since the 1930's, underscored by traditional Italian songs crooned by Carlo Cicala. Also included in the show is a short animated film , by local animator, Ben Wickey, depicting the Hurricane Irene collapse of the pole and its subsequent rebuilding. This show is suitable for all ages.