Greaseball's look draws heavily on the American 1950s - 1960s Greaser look, black leather, quiffed hair, chains and studs. One of the main influences is Elvis Presley, as well as calling on the same source as the T-Birds in Grease. In some productions he wears a yellow headband, which reads far more of its time in the 1980s than 1950s.
The train elements draw on the Union Pacific Engines, bold yellow, patriotic American stars and Stripes, with big, blocky shapes. In most productions he gains a race pack over his already bulky costume, including bigger shoulders, back pack, and greaves on his lower legs. This Race Pack, including his helmet, is unmistakably the Union Pacific.
Greaseball's costume consists of heavily decorated black studded leather, with a sleeveless jacket over what appears to be plated metal - within the context of the Starlight Express costumes, this sort of unpainted silver metal is understood to be "Bare skin". He even has a medallion on a chain with his initial. His base costume also shows the relatively discreet rings for attaching the race pack; they appear decorative, fitting the theme of studs and chains in his costume. In 2006, the Bochum production introduced pyrotechnics into the show, with Greaseball having rockets literally shooting sparks from his skates as he enters for 'Pumping Iron'.
Wig: Greaseball has black hair with blonde highlights. It's styling strongly resembles Elvis' hair. In the past he had a rather curl like front part, nowadays it's styled into a quiff and then all the way to the back. In earlier years he additionally wore a yellow and red headband with "Union Pacific" (like on his shoulder boxes). His sideburns got smaller over the years as well.
Make-Up: Greaseball's makeup includes very strong contouring, to make the actor appear with even 'manlier', stronger features. Of course he has very dark eyebrows to match his hair colour.
Starlight On Ice[]
Greasball's outfit was dramatically redesigned for the short-lived Starlight On Ice production. He wore a latex Elvis wig along with facial hair, and he wears a jacket over his outfit. Underneath the jacket was a dark blue jumpsuit with a star in the middle. His costume's color scheme was changed as well, instead of yellow and black, it became blue, red and silver.
Headcanons[]
- The basic concept of the characters in Starlight Express is that of toy trains come to life in a child's dream. However fans have speculated on possible real-world rolling stock that could provide a headcanon equivalent for the characters seen onstage.
- Greaseball's concept art shows his helmet resembling an ALCO PA/FA diesel locomotive, however his finalized helmet resembles an EMD E/F unit diesel, the latter having a more rounded out front nose.
- Greaseball's Helmet draws on a design of the E9 locomotive while his race pack resembles that of a DD40AX and GTEL.
