Good news: He's aged gracefully, never missing a beat, and he's still remembered as a teen idol who never lost his sheen.

He's coming back to Hawai'i to headline a holiday run of "Grease," which premieres Monday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

And listen up, Avalon fans: The singer will tag on a sampling of songs that made him famous in a mini concert after each "Grease" performance.

"I do the show and the role periodically because I love it," Avalon said in a telephone interview from Malibu, Calif.

"Because I only appear in that one number, we had to figure out a way to make it work for me. I mean, I just can't do one song ..."

So he worked out a deal with the show's producers to tag on a concert of Avalon Updated. That way, his billing is justified; and those who grew up with his pop hits can relive the tunes in a cheerful stroll down memory lane — kind of his version of the ABBA concert after the curtain for "Mamma Mia."

"I have fun with the audience after the final curtain," he said. "I do songs from my career: 'Why,' 'Venus.' The 'Beach Blanket Bingo' crowds love it."

The "concert" lasts maybe 10 minutes. Depending on crowd reaction, it could linger a few minutes more. Avalon has not lost his luster; he holds communion with his fans, young and old alike.

At 65, Avalon is purportedly the first teen idol to emerge from Philadelphia in the late 1950s (the city also produced such luminaries as Fabian and Bobby Rydell) and he's still rock 'n' rolling.

His stint atop the hit charts in the '50s and '60s has kept his career going in the '90s and 2000s. And "Grease," the movie, helped galvanize a younger demographic, which may not have seen him in those giddy movies with "beach" or "bikini" in the title, most often co-starring his pal Annette Funicello in fun-in-the-sun-and-surf settings.

Avalon said he maintains a friendship with Funicello, but the former singer-actress, who first noticed signs of what would be multiple sclerosis in 1987 while they worked on the "Back to the Beach" film together, continues to battle the ailment. She established the Annette Funicello Fund for Neurological Disorders at the California Community Foundation in 1993.

"Grease" is full of young energy, with dancing and singing — and much romantic pining — as the love lives and social cliques of teenagers in the 1950s are explored.

"Some may be wondering, 'Who's Frankie Avalon?' But because of the movie 'Grease,' many kids know me. And their parents come to see me."

With his emergence as a crooner in the late 1950s, Avalon was a product of those happy days reflected in "Grease." "It was a period of fun," he said. "People were naive, I think, especially compared to today. But the music was wonderful, the characters of the era alive. So wherever we visit, 'Grease' does big business around the country. Part of it because folks want to recall those happy moments."

Avalon recalls the time, back in 1958, when he stepped off the plane during his first (of many) visits to Hawai'i.

Ah, young love! Sandy, the new girl in town, finds that her beau from the summer has changed into an arrogant greaser at the high school.

That gig, at the now defunct Civic Auditorium, was part of a series of "Show of Stars" promoted by Moffatt, who has continued booking nostalgia acts even in the 2000s.

"Hawai'i has been really good to me, so we visit often," Avalon said.

"I've had tremendous success in Hawai'i through the years. I know I used to work at the Hale Makai Hotel and I used to fill in for Dick Jensen on the Oceania Floating Restaurant." (Jensen, now a minister, has curtailed an active show-biz life but occasionally performs.)

Avalon also worked at the Palace Showroom of the Ohana Reef Towers Hotel (when it was the Polynesian Palace at the Cinerama Reef Towers Hotel).

Because he's never shelved his performances, Avalon doesn't consider himself a nostalgia entity, although he savors the early years of his career and recalls those times in periodic bookings with peers Rydell and Fabian.

"Tom Moffatt has talked about doing a show with all three of us," he said. "I try to keep up with all the old gang; I just talked to Bobby a couple of hours ago, and I keep in contact with (singers) Jimmy Darren and Frankie Valli (of the Four Seasons). We're old cronies. I have fond memories of those times; we all made our marks with the old stuff."

As his recording career stalled, Avalon continued working the club circuit, relying on his past triumphs, not current recordings.

He's in the midst of recording a new CD, with Bob Marcucci, his original manager, involved in the launch.

"Bob and I have had a long friendship; he started my whole life, really," said Avalon. "He asked me if I could sing a song, a duet with a girl, and he says we'll sell it on the Internet."

An admitted computer illiterate, Avalon said: " 'Put it on the Internet, Bob? I don't know what you're talking about. I don't ever use the computer.' "

Though he's working over the New Year's holiday, Avalon doesn't mind. "My wife, one of my daughters, and a couple of the grandkids will also be here, so it's family time, too," he said.

The Hawai'i engagement of "Grease" turns out to be the launching pad for a new wave of shows on the Mainland through June. From here, Avalon moves on to San Francisco.

"When you're not out there constantly, it is fun," he said. "It's still work, but it's great fun. And it works out perfectly. I tour, I get to go home to the family."