However, for performers and audiences, the enduring appeal of Grease transcends such trifling matters.

The forthcoming production at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre has proved the point.

Director Stephen Pike said Grease was "the biggest-selling show we've ever had here and it hasn't even opened yet".

"There are already several sold-out performances," he said.

Grease is set at Rydell High where Sandy (played by Rosanna Boyd) is unexpectedly reunited with greaser Danny Zuko (Marcus Hurley) after a summer romance.

However, he's the leader of the cool T-Birds and not sure how a good girl like Sandy will fit in with his image, while she, too, has trouble finding a way to make social connections in her new world.

Pike attributes the show's success to "the music, and the boy meets girl story".

People came to the show knowing songs like Greased Lightning and Summer Nights even if they weren't familiar with some of the pop cultural touchstones of the rock'n'roll era, he said.

Adding to the appeal was that the show dealt with the universal concerns of high school – fitting in, making friends, facing the future – and featured the fashions of the period, which had been enjoying a recent revival.

Hurley, 28, said he and Boyd, 23, were a couple off-stage as well as on, adding: "Our relationship is a lot stronger in real life than Danny and Sandy's."

The pair met while performing in The Phantom of the Opera a few years ago. They have appeared in many other shows including Kismet, My Fair Lady and Sunset Boulevard.

Boyd said she found the role of the "shy, sweet" Sandy fun to play, while Hurley found an aspect of his role a particular challenge: the dancing.

However, Boyd disagreed.

"I think he's a natural dancer," she said.

Grease is on at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre from July 29 to August 15. Bookings: theq.net.au.