Grease

Only four contestants remain in You're the One That I Want!, NBC's reality TV show in which contestants vie to be cast as the leads in a new Broadway production of the musical Grease. National television exposure is rare for Broadway, and letting the public vote on casting its productions has never been done. But the TV show, which wraps up Sunday, takes its lead from How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, a British program about casting a West End production of The Sound of Music. In Sunday's A&E Today section, Sun theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck will talk to David Ian, the creative force behind both television shows.

With a glee that the average home project never sees, about two dozen dads in Sykesville raided back yards and basements this fall to build contraptions with this purpose: to hurl a pumpkin into the air and turn it into glop.Ostensibly part of a science lesson for their children at Sykesville Middle School, the dads' machines were ready for action for the school's fourth annual "Punkin' Chunkin' " contest. Distance determined the winner, and the 1998 record of 80 feet was at stake.Shortly before dusk Tuesday, pickup trucks bounced onto the school's athletic field, and the dads wrestled their unwieldy devices onto the starting line.

Chesapeake Music Hall has a proven winner in "Grease," an instant smash on Broadway in 1972, a hit movie in 1978 and again last year during the film's 20th anniversary revival.Director Sherry Kay deserves high marks for dancing and singing that does justice to Jim Jacobs' and Warren Casey's score and for assembling a talented young cast, half of them appearing for the first or second time. In addition to directing and choreography, she designed and built the set, costumed the cast and serves as CMH's general manager.

ON THE wall of fame at Enrico's Sports Bar, Haven and Pratt streets, in Highlandtown, there are photographs of all the great ones owner Bud Paolino's met and treasured over the years, from Rocky Marciano and Jack Dempsey to Mimi DiPietro and Du Burns to Charley Eckman and Pope John Paul II.But three of the old black-and-white pictures stand out: Joe DiMaggio in his glory, in his famous widespread eating stance, never breaking stride, devouring steamed crabs...

Put cooked ground meat in a colander, set the colander on a plate and press down on the meat with a spoon to drain off as much grease as possible. -- The Food Lover's TiptionaryPub Date: 03/07/99

Put cooked ground meat in a colander, set the colander on a plate and press down on the meat with a spoon to drain off as much grease as possible.- The Food Lover's TiptionaryPub Date: 12/27/98

Hopelessly devoted to "Grease"?Pull on those pedal pushers and meet me at the malt shop, 'cause you're in luck.The '50s period musical romance, featuring a svelte and dreamy John Travolta and a pure and irresistible Olivia Newton-John, joined by a singing, dancing, hormone-crazed horde of the oldest high school students on record, is being re-released today for its 20th anniversary.For the few people who haven't seen the movie, who are begging "Tell me more, tell me more," pay attention:Australian super-virgin Sandy meets sensitive greaser Danny Zuko at the beach, where they engage in some innocent summer lovin' before their senior years in high school.

If you haven't caught the Library of Congress' National Film Registry tour at the Senator Theatre this week, you still have a chance today, when "Shane," "The Searchers," Kenneth Anger's "Eaux d'Artifice" and "Duck Soup" make appearances this afternoon and this evening. By popular demand, the Film Registry run has been extended: "Touch of Evil," "Out of the Past" and "Night of the Hunter" will be shown tomorrow; "Raging Bull," "The Searchers" and "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" will be shown Saturday and "Gigi" and "Chinatown" will return on Sunday.

Baltimore County police are investigating a holdup at a nutrition store in Woodlawn committed by a guy who, I'm guessing, suffers from nighttime cramps, cold sores, acne or hot flashes. The bandit took $350 cash and large bottle of Vitamin E. . . .This oughta be special: A senior citizens' version of "The Dating Game" on closed-circuit TV at Oak Crest Village, the Parkville retirement community, this Friday, Valentine's Day. ("Bachelor No. 1: I like mature men. But exactly how mature are you?"

A house with custom-built mouse holes? With a "power orange" and "solar yellow" exterior?And made from the blueprints of a design team that watched 96 cartoons for inspiration?As Bart Simpson would say, "Cool."This monument to off-kilter living is a four-bedroom replica of the home seen on "The Simpsons," the animated Fox network TV show that celebrates social imperfection.You can't buy it, but you could win it.It's in a 152-home community in Henderson, Nev., not far from Las Vegas, and it was constructed for the blithely shameless purpose of big-time public relations.

Taylor Hicks extends run with 'Grease' tour American Idol winner Taylor Hicks has reupped his contract with the national tour of Grease. He'll now appear on the road with the show through the 2009-2010 season, reports Variety. Hicks, who plays the cameo role of Teen Angel in the musical, has played in the tour since it went out in December. He also had a stint in the Broadway incarnation, which shuttered in January. Grease will make stops this spring in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, among other cities.

You might say that Taylor Hicks tailor-made the role of Teen Angel in Grease to his precise specifications. The Angel appears in the 1950s-era musical just once, to sing "Beauty School Dropout." And Hicks' version differs in key ways from the renditions of such pop legends as Chubby Checkers, Frankie Avalon and Davy Jones, all of whom previously performed the role. As befitting a man who won the fifth season of American Idol with more than 63 million votes, Hicks brings his own brand of bling to his solo.

Let's just get it out of the way - American Idol star Taylor Hicks delivers a perfectly acceptable performance as Teen Angel in the touring production of Grease that just hand-jived its way into the Hippodrome Theatre. It's true that Hicks hams it up so much, he should be served with a jar of mustard. He turns his back to the audience and wiggles his butt, he rolls his eyes skyward like one of Raphael's winged cherubs, and he even gets off a few licks on his harmonica. But subtlety isn't necessarily an asset in performing a role as inherently kitsch as Teen Angel.

DODY GOODMAN, 93 Comedian and actress Dody Goodman, the comedian known for her television appearances on Jack Paar's late-night talk show and as the mother on the soap-opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, died Sunday at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in New Jersey. Ms. Goodman, with her pixyish appearance and Southern-tinged, quavery voice, had an eclectic show-business career. She moved easily from stage to television to movies, where she appeared in such popular films as Grease and Grease 2, playing Blanche, the principal's assistant, and in Splash.

My new kitchen plans call for a new exhaust fan. To be more precise, a kitchen hood exhaust fan has been suggested. Is one fan more effective than another? Years ago, the downdraft exhaust fans were popular. How do I make sure the one I select will adequately ventilate my kitchen? Where does the replacement air enter the house? You're asking all of the right questions. You need a good kitchen exhaust fan system if you cook greasy foods and boil foods. The cooking process often creates both visible particles and an invisible aerosol mist of grease and smoke that can coat the surfaces of a kitchen if they are not vacuumed and exhausted to the exterior of the home.

To such well-known threats to the health of the Chesapeake Bay as nitrogen from farm fertilizers and runoff brought on by suburban sprawl, add a less-obvious danger: bacon grease. Homeowners who dump fat down the kitchen drain account for a growing share of sewage system overflows throughout Maryland. Most are minor, but grease buildup in a sewer line was blamed for a spill of more than a half-million gallons into woods next to the Patuxent River in Howard County this year. Yesterday, officials gathered on the banks of the Little Patuxent in Ellicott City's Centennial Park to call on cooks to be more careful.

Dave Eck, a Half Moon Bay, Calif., mechanic, had attracted a media spotlight with his fleet of vehicles fueled by used fryer grease from a local chowder house. So when Sacramento called, he figured officials wanted advice on alternative fuels. Not at all. The government rang to notify Eck that he was a tax cheat. He was scolded for failing to get a "diesel fuel supplier's license," reporting quarterly how many gallons of grease he burns and paying a tax on each gallon. "All of a sudden they nailed me for a road tax," said Eck, who drives a Hummer converted to run on vegetable oil. "I said, `Not a problem.

It's one of the Naval Academy's most enduring traditions: Hundreds of shirtless plebes mark the end of their first year by swarming a grease-slicked, 21-foot-obelisk, climbing over one another in a race to the top. Now, academy officials are asking: Is this safe? In a terse statement this week, academy officials said they will assemble a student committee to study changes to the Herndon Monument Climb. "Like many customs and traditions, they evolve, they change over time," said Cmdr.

BETHESDA -- Like most restaurants, the Barking Dog tavern fills up a metal drum with grease that has fried its share of wings, then pays to have the old oil hauled away by a rendering company. But the Barking Dog also siphons some of the used oil back into 5-gallon jugs and leaves them by a rear exit, hoping someone will pick the oil up and pour it into his car. It's not a prank, but part of what is believed to be a first-in-the-nation government effort to link up restaurants that want to dispose of waste oil with enthusiasts who need it to fuel cars modified to run on the grease.

NO BROADWAY AUDItion has ever come under the scrutiny of so many judges. An average of 7.5 million viewers have been tuning in each week to watch NBC's Grease: You're the One That I Want!, the reality television show that will cast the leads in this summer's Broadway revival of the musical Grease. In TV terms, these may not be astronomical figures. But in Broadway terms, they're huge. GREASE: YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT! / / Airs at 8 tonight on WBAL (Channel 11) THE ONES THAT THEY WANT Four experts in the theater make their choices for the winning Danny and Sandy KEN WAISSMAN Baltimore-born producer of the original Broadway production of Grease SANDY: Laura.