#og greaseball

[chipontherailroad]

Biro sketching is the BEST!!! 💥 I love this train man and his stupid sunglasses…

[dinahdoeeyes]

My ideal production of Starlight Express.

I suppose I'll just get right into it. First the list of characters, then the songs (excluding little bits/non-songs like Taunting Rusty and the races), then the rest.

Cast:

Rusty

Pearl

Greaseball

Dinah

Electra

CB

Ashley

Buffy

Poppa

Belle, the Sleeping Car (called Memphis Belle)

Dustin

Flat-Top

The Rockies

Volta, Joule, Wrench, Purse, and Krupp

The original National Engines

Duvay and the Sleepers

Control

Setlist (* = will be addressed below):

Entry Of National Trains

Rolling Stock

Call Me Rusty

A Lotta Locomotion ('83 Workship version, but with Buffy added)

He Whistled At Me (Minus the Rusty/Pearl conversation)

*Dinah/Greaseball duet

Freight (With the girls bullying the boys)

AC/DC

Pumping Iron ("Trying to build my body, trying to lose my mind" and "Stretching my bullworker, heaving on my weights" switch spots because I just feel that it'd sound better that way.)

Sleepers moment

*Dinah solo

Hitching and Switching (probably original)

Crazy

*That was Unfair (extended)

That's Me/There's Me (duet)

Poppa's Blues

Belle's Song (Combo of OG & Broadway — especially "sniffing the coke")

Starlight Express

The Rap: Hey You

*Make Up My Heart

Pearl Twirl

U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D.

Girls' Rolling Stock

Wide Smile (Mostly the Broadway version, except he says the OG "...C.B." in the chorus instead of Broadway's "...the Red Caboose," until the ending after Electra & co leave.)

I Was Robbed

Right Place, Right Time

I Am The Starlight

Rusty and Dustin

*Dinah's Disco (extended)

No Comeback

One Rock & Roll Too Many

I Do and/or Only You (I really want "I Do," and it feels redundant to do both in a row, but I feel like "Only You" is important?)

*GreaseDinah reunion (extended)

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Starlight Express Megamix (of course)

Notes:

We are leaning hard into the 80's here! None of that trying to modernize StEx they've been doing since the 90's. It doesn't work, and the hyper-80's...ness is one of the best things about StEx!

This is about 60% the 1984 original, so keep that in mind.

Dinah & Greaseball look most like the original Dinah and Greaseball. (Though Dinah's hair looks like this. I'll get to her costumes below.) Greaseball looks completely like Jeff Shankley's GB.

Most of the costumes look like the Broadway versions.

However, Pearl gets 3 costumes; her pants outfit from the '84 previews (but with white pants), followed by her sleek Broadway dress outfit (w/ Electra), and then the fluffy dress outfit (w/ GB).

Dinah has 2 costumes; the first one being more Broadway (but I dislike the leggings, so different ones), and then, when she pairs with Electra, she changes to and outfit that is similar to her OG outfit.

C.B.'s look is very similar to the original, except his pants are black, and he has his later hat.

I want some of the choreography from the '83 workshop. ( x x x x )

Dinah & Greaseball banter a bit because "Incapable of feeding yourself, Greaseball?" Ohhh *chef's kiss* 2017 London Workshop did something right!

*Dinah & Greaseball get a couple's duet. It's a fun, cute, rock/80's pop mix song that touches on their love for each other and how they don't care about others' bullshit. ("Our Lips Are Sealed" kind of vibes, I suppose.)

Ashley and Duvay are sisters.

Greaseball pulls the girls during "Freight," like he originally did.

*Dinah gets a solo after "Pumping Iron" after the Sleepers talk their bullshit. It'd be about 3½ minutes long. If you've read my Dinah rants, you can get an idea of what it's about.

Greaseball, Bobo, and Espresso are part of the choreography during "Crazy" toward the end, racing around with Dinah, Ashley, and Buffy. (I promise this is FIRE in my head. Have faith. 🥺)

*Grease & Dinah have a longer argument before their breakup.

Dinah and C.B. have a duet. It's the Broadway version of There's Me combined with That's Me. (Dinah singing her solo part first.)

*Pearl sings "Make Up My Heart" about Rusty, Electra, and Greaseball. (Explanation here.)

*"U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D." is slower, sadder, and has more lyrics, like it was in the '83 workshop.

Buffy & Ashley are finally canon. It's Complicated™️, but they get it together by the end.

*"Dinah's Disco" is a bit longer, as is *Dinah & Greaseball's reunion/makeup.

Pearl is absolutely like original Pearl in this: A selfish bitch (who learns and gets better by the end); she is not "naive." ("Further from my vision" over "Sadder but no wiser.")

We actually acknowledge that Pearl is an asshole. But, like Greaseball, she learns and is working on herself by the end! 🙌🏽

Pearl apologizes to Dinah at the end. FINALLY. (During a break in LATEOTT.)

Control loves the trains/coaches/freight, and they love him. He's just a bossy little kid, but they're also actin' up. (I'm open to Control being a girl.)

Electra and the Components do come back.

I... think that's it. I hope didn't forget anything.

CHOO CHOO! 💋

[honey-dont]

stex month day three: greaseball!

favorite actor: maynard williams!! he's giving it 110% and i respect him so much for that. also love the og jeff shankley, plus rob torti, andreas wolfram, david brown, rory mccollum, and lashane williams!

favorite songs/scenes: pumping iron my absolute fave song in the whole show <33 it's just so fun. love watching him get wrecked in one rock n roll too

favorite costumes: honestly gb's costume has barely changed and that's bc it rules. i do love the olc duckbutt hair tho, i prefer it to the pompadour! big fan of wigs that have lots of stripes too. also his racing armor is so cool, love how bulky it makes him look

favorite ships/friendships: greasedlightning <3 enemies to still enemies but now they kiss sometimes. i like him and dinah as amicable exes too

headcanons: diesel engines are prone to oil buildup that will stain over time, so he has stains on his face and the tips of his fingers!

unpopular opinion: he sucks so bad and i love him for that. i do think he has the potential to get better tho

[green-planets]

StEx Appreciation Month Day 3: Greaseball!

🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅

Face Claim: Nigel Casey (ily Tortiball, but you're too pretty!)

Favourite Song/Scenes: He has some of the catchiest songs in the soundtrack! Pumping Iron (I love the dance break where he does the lifts with the coaches), “You wanna boil with the oil or lose with the fuse?”, One Rock and Roll too Many (the kiss boot!!!), S.O.R.R.R.Y.

Favourite Costumes: Both pompadour and mullet GBs are valid to me! The early 90's London costume with all the chains and studs is really cool. I also like the late 90's London costume with the bright red and yellow accents. But nothing can beat the Broadway costume with full racing armor!

Favourite Ships/Friendships: Greaseball x Electra, Greaseball x Electra x Red Caboose. He considers Coco, CB, and Red Caboose his friends. Brake Van is more of a business partner and the gang aren't really his friends, just his lackeys

Headcanons: He had little interest in Pearl until Electra started making a big fuss about racing with her

Unpopular Opinion: He's more interesting to me as part of a dynamic than as an individual character. Sorry GB lovers :/

🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅

Bonus Round: Girlball!

Face Claim: Lara Vina Uzcatia

Favourite Song/Scenes: Pumping Iron, “Get out of my way!”, I kind of love her spark gun (I haven't seen the revival so I don't have many favorite moments)

Favourite Costumes: Proto-wig beloved! I actually do like her current wig too but the prototype is reminiscent of OG London Greaseball

Favourite Ships/Friendships: Girlball x Slick, Girlball x Slick x (Revival) Electra

Headcanons: I call her Hot Streak and she's got a slightly different personality than her in-canon counterpart (she can still be a little mean as a treat but she doesn't treat the coaches like trash)

Unpopular Opinion: Greaseball was the worst choice for a random gender-swap and I still stand firmly by this opinion.

🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅

[storyweaverofgondor]

Greaseball Redesign

This was done in a similar vain to my Rusty Redesign.

My main idea for this is that, since Greaseball's song is called Pumping Iron, to make him look as muscular as possible. For that, really leaned into the idea of padding and optical illusion. Unlike with Rusty where i really built out his lower arms and legs, i built Greaseball out in the upper arms and thighs. Subtly though, because nothing is more distracting then an obvious muscle suit. I have the front of the costume give a really strong 'V' to really lean into the muscle man idea as well. I also had the design on the chest give strong 'pecs and abs'. I also gave him pauldrons that are very broad and stick out a bit to really give him a broad shouldered appearance.

While looking at pics of Greaseball i found one of OG GB that does something fun with the pants that i like and decided to lean into that with a bit of my own flair. This would A) allow for a lot of extra padding to really bulk a performer out on the outer thighs. and B) frame the booty. Because is it really an ALW musical if the Elvis impression isn't a bit horny? Got to show off the butt!

The back is also structured to really give that 'V' shape from behind. The design on the back is A) to really emphasize the shape and B) give him a strong 'Murica vibe.

I did his makeup to give the impression of chiseled features at a distance

I gave Greaseball rectangular sunglasses to emulate the rectangular windscreens in all the pictures of diesel engines i used for reference.

I really wanted to give the impression that Greaseball is gilded. He's shining gold and black with a few red accents. I really wanted to give the impression that he is a fancy and powerful racing engine. Unlike Rusty's dull orange, Greaseball would glow under a spotlight.

Like with Rusty i wanted to incorporate the microphone into the design.

I really had fun with this one. I would love to hear what you all think.

@tending-the-hearth @goblinlovesmusicals

[sunshinerory]

I sorta think of the male iterations of greaseball as the older brother of fem!greaseball, since they’re definitely such different characters

like fem!greaseball (referred to as graham in my brain bc they wouldn’t both be greaseball at the same time, seems like an inherited title, maybe from their dad) always grew up in her brother’s shadow and wanted to beat him at everything so now that she’s in the spotlight she does Not like giving it up at all

dinah is still just one character, she dates og greaseball and he brings her around his family a decent amount, which kinda leads to graham developing feelings for her as well because dinah is one of few people who doesn’t treat her like she’s invisible or in the shadow of her brother.

og greaseball is a Bad Boyfriend and he and dinah break up, but dinah still spends time with graham because she’s having gay realizations and also just because they like each other.

graham is still cocky and a bit of a posturing asshole but is definitely much much nicer and more caring towards her than og greaseball was (she was borderline obsessed with the idea of being a better partner to dinah than her brother could because again they’re competitive as hell, dinah is aware and thinks it’s adorable)

graham acts the way she does in the show because she’s desperate to be better than her brother, and a lot of what she has to overcome is an inferiority complex. she feels like emotions make her weak and that she can’t be vulnerable, but she learns with time how to be more open with friends, which she can keep bow because she’s better at being nice to people lmao

(art is mine btw!)

[oriionpaxx]

Can I hear your headcanons about Control?

HEADCANONS ABOUT CONTROL!!

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE OMG [this includes my lil au where the trains are real and like androidish and control is a adult but it can apply to kid him in the og stex]

So he's autistic with a special interest in everything transportation but very specifically trains! He was raised by a single mom who always supported him and his interests and even helped him look for jobs in anything related to trains- it took a while but he landed a job as a control! When he was young he would play with the model trains his mom would buy for him- giving them personalities and names and then racing them- making up whole stories for hours and hours on end. So you could imagine his suprise when he found out those trains he played with and gave personalities to and names ended up being real androids.

He loves everyone that comes to his train yard, making sure all the engines are fixed up the best he can and everyone's comfy. He gets to know every usual that comes by and is so very friendly to the engines. He even helps out fixing them since he's got quite the knack for knowing a engine inside and out.

He is pansexual and demiromantic, going by he/him but he doesn't mind any other pronouns.

The good thing about his job is he gets to kinda be just a faceless voice about 70% of the time, he has really bad social anxiety. Only the engines see him regularly. He tries to not pick favorites but he does have three major ones that he's had since childhood. Those three being Rusty, Greaseball and Electra- although in no particular order, he seems to favor Rusty the most, as he reminds him of the very first train his mom got him- that over the years had rusted but yet he still kept it. He has a whole shelf in his office dedicated to all his model trains.

[tobbogan-13]

yall

Jeff Shankley follows me on instagram

as in OG Greaseball Jeff Shankley

like that guy

[cosmicheartz]

Pokémon fans please consider that ingo and emmets favorite musical is the starlight express

[outlawssweetheart]

I’m gonna tell myself that I saw the London 1984 & Broadway 1987 productions of Starlight Express in my past life.

[t4tails]

some doodles

[dinahdoeeyes]

Hey... Remember on the Starlight Express Original London Cast Recording (1984) album on disc 2, track #12 “Only You” (timestamp: 2:59) when Dinah is concerned about Greaseball because he was hurt, and he told her not to cry (sounding as if he didn’t want to upset her any more than he already had, as if he didn’t want her to use any more of her tears on him), and then he mentioned how he was “washed up” and “finished,” but he didn’t linger on it and instead moved right on to trying to apologize for what a shit boyfriend he was, sounding truly regretful and like he was more concerned with apologizing to her than with his now busted career, but he couldn’t get the word out because he’d surely never been remorseful for anything before that?

I remember. Pepperidge Farm remembers. But some (some, not all) later actors who’ve portrayed Greaseball clearly didn’t because they tend to make him sound annoyed by Dinah crying, half-ass the apology, and make G.B. sound more concerned about his racing career than his relationship. 🙂

Look, I don’t like talking shit, but... They will never be Jeff Shankley. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[whistlingstarlight]

Every day I want to make shitposts about Greaseball on my insta but Jeff Shankley sees all my instagram posts and that makes me very careful about what I post jkhkjsdgh-

[skully-bones]

dark is just getting progressively more bonkers with even more pretentious dialogue, im having the time of my life

[nauticaltrainofthe80s]

Starlight Express Appreciation Month

Day 3: Greaseball

Many railroads liked to feature their engines in advertising. Union Pacific was no exception. 

Favorite Actor: that one blonde mf that replaced robert torti on bway, that guy

Favorite Song/Scene: Rolling Stock

Favorite Costume: As much as I love the John Napier design, that original London hits different

Favorite Ship: GBxDinah but only in recent productions, that og version....yikes

Headcanon: As rough and tumble GB is, he is very detail-oriented and strategic. He’s the kind of person to watch tapes of himself racing over and over to find out what exactly worked and what didn’t. He does have a title to keep after all. 

Unpopular Opinion: Dinah should have dumped his ass lmao