Hicks goes for camp in spirited 'Grease' at TBPAC

He descends from the top of the stage encased in a huge ice cream cone. This Teen Angel is a prematurely gray soul singer who adds a touch of campiness to his song.

Channeling both Cary Grant and Frankie Avalon, former "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks plunges in to '50s rock 'n' roll as he croons "Beauty School Dropout" in a spirited production of "Grease" that opened at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center on Tuesday night.

Hicks, a good old boy from Alabama, doesn't show up until halfway into the second act to appear in a fantasy sequence complete with beauty parlor patrons wearing large cone-shaped hair dryers.

He hammed it up, making goofy faces. And he whipped out a harmonica for a riff, giving it that Hicks' touch. The audience roared when dropout Frenchy cooed to him: "I voted for you."

By that time the audience already had been won over by the cast of young Broadway actors and the familiar music that has made this one of the most enduring musicals in American theater history.

Eric Schneider as greaser Danny and Emily Padgett as good-girl Sandy keep that Rydell High School high school romance brewing while Allie Schultz sizzles as the rough-edged Rizzo. Kate Morgan Chadwick brings the ditzy Frenchy to life and the other Pink Ladies (Kelly Felthous and Bridie Carroll) hit their marks.

Danny's T-Birds (David Ruffin, Nick Verina, Will Bloom and Brian Crum) also are fun to watch.

But Hicks, because of his fame, gets the most attention. It's his face on the poster for this tour.

The season five winner of "Idol" also sang a bit of the title song "Grease" at the close of the show. And after slipping out of his Teen Angel garb, he performed his latest single "Seven-Mile Breakdown" after the last curtain call. And he hung around in the lobby afterward to pose for pictures and sign autographs (but only on his CDs or other Hicks merchandise).

Hicks has no doubt drawn some of his "Soul Patrol" fans to the theater but this production "Grease" would be a kick with or without him.