Tommy Tune Puts Flashes of Slick Style in ‘Grease!’

“Grease!” is back. What a surprise.

Proving that old revivals never die, they just change venues, Tommy Tune’s touring production of the Jim Jacobs/Warren Casey musical has turned up at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, following earlier stays in Pasadena and Orange County.

Assuming those previous outings were missed, the Cerritos show is worth catching to see how Tune and director-choreographer Jeff Calhoun redecorated tired old Rydell High circa 1959 with Day-Glo lockers and bouncy dance numbers. The book will never be known for its swift exposition or refined taste, but Tune and company at least made the sit a lot more palatable.

For “Grease!” groupies--and you know who you are--the news this time is that erstwhile teen singer Debbie Gibson and sometime TV star Adrian Zmed play bad girl Rizzo and head greaser Danny Zuko. (Sally Struthers reprises her shtick as frumpy English teacher Miss Lynch.)

The smirkingly playful Zmed looks as if he could play the role in his sleep, though thankfully he doesn’t here. Cast against type (and nearly unrecognizable in a black wig and Russ Meyer-like makeup), Gibson is more problematic; while her voice is pleasing if not powerful, the tentative performance never quite ignites.

In fact, the most notable moments in this “Grease!” come from two unheralded performers, Sutton Foster (wrapping her creamy vocals around the role of Sandy, Rizzo’s angelic foil) and Ric Ryder (blasting the chord changes in the mock-rock anthem “Those Magic Changes”).

* “Grease!,” Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. Thursday-Sunday, 8 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. $35-$60. (310) 916-8500. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.