PaliHi Grad Yorke Debuts on Broadway in “Grease”

Palisades High graduate Helene Yorke, who is playing Marty in the Broadway musical “Grease,” hugs co-star and American Idol finalist Ace Young (Kenickie).
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Palisades High graduate Helene Yorke, who is playing Marty in the Broadway musical “Grease,” hugs co-star and American Idol finalist Ace Young (Kenickie).

Five years after graduating from Palisades Charter High School, Helene Yorke still can’t escape high school.
Shortly after finishing a tour with Disney’s “High School Musical,” Yorke has landed a role on Broadway in the revival of the teen musical, “Grease.” The 23-year-old is playing the character Marty, one of the Pink Ladies. Her first performance was on September 25 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York.
“I’m very excited about this role,” Yorke told the Palisadian-Post. “I feel very lucky to be making my Broadway debut as a principal, first off. Marty is an interesting character to me because she represents the clueless bombshell tart of the Pink Ladies.”
The musical “Grease,” by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, is about a group of rebellious teenagers (the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies) who struggle with sex, love and friendship. The musical, set in the 1950s, premiered on Broadway in 1972, and was followed by the film version, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, in 1978.
Marty is a small role in the movie but a more important character in the stage version, said Yorke, who sings a solo, “Freddy My Love,” in a bedroom scene.
The latest revival of the musical opened on Broadway in August 2007, following NBC’s “Grease: You’re The One That I Want,” a nationally televised competition in which Americans competed for the two leading roles, Sandy and Danny.
Yorke, a University of Michigan graduate with a degree in theater, is now performing alongside American Idol finalist Ace Young, who plays Kenickie.
The daughter of Palisadians Rhos and Andrea Dyke, Yorke first discovered her love of singing and acting in her drama and choir classes at Paul Revere Middle School.
At PaliHi, she performed in four musicals: “42nd Street,” “Oklahoma!,” “Crazy for You” and “Les Miserables.” She continued to perfect her theatrical skills at Michigan, performing in five musicals. After she graduated, she landed her first role in “Walmartopia” at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Manhattan.
Yorke then toured the country playing Sharpay Evans in “High School Musical.” As soon as she completed that six-month tour this August, she moved back to New York and auditioned for “Grease.”
“I just tried to use the momentum of my last job to propel me forward,” she said.
As Yorke waited for a response from her audition, she landed a role in “What’s That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling,” written by David Pittu, at the Atlantic Theater Company. She played the student of character Jacob Sterling, a musical-theater writer, but had to leave the show a few weeks early for “Grease.”
“Every day I feel so lucky walking through the stage door to go to work,” Yorke said. “As always, my goal for the future is to stay happy and in love with what I do. Right now, I’m in a Broadway show with an incredible cast of people, which makes me very happy.”