Singin’ in the Rain

“Singin’ in the Rain" has music written by Nacio Herb Brown and Lyrics by Arthur Freed with screenplay and book written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It is based on the highly successful “Metro -Goldwyn –Mayor” Film of the same name starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds. Set at the end of the silent movie era and the beginning of the introduction of talking pictures in Hollywood, the action follows actor Don Lockwood and his friends as they try to bring Lockwood and Lamont Studios up-to-date by converting their latest production "The Duelling Cavalier" into a talking picture.

The hard-working cast included Alistair Lee as the romantic leading man Don Lockwood who sang and danced well with a mixture of charm, and humour, his love interest and aspiring actress Kathy Selden was played by Suzanne Morris, who combined innocence with poignancy and had a lovely rich singing voice that suited her part well; she was also a very good dancer. Having good singers and dancers in these two roles is a necessity and is integral to the success of this show. Lee Ashall as Lockwood’s sidekick and friend Cosmo Brown gave us some enjoyable comedic moments with good comic timing and Stacey Davies’s characterisation of bitchy platinum blonde film star Lina Lamont, whose career is threatened by the arrival of the talkies, was very amusing, I particularly enjoyed her very entertaining rendition of “What is wrong with me". There were also some very good characterisations from the supporting roles and from the chorus.   Dialogue was a little difficult to hear at times as the microphones appear to have been turned down or may have been turned off during the libretto, and American accents were generally very good but there was an occasional slip back into English by one or two members of the cast.  Choreography by Mandy Evans was excellent, suiting the era well and was performed expertly by the dancers, the tap dances in particular were outstanding.

The Orchestra conducted by Musical Director Geoff Lavelle played well and supported the cast soundly.

Central to the success of this show are the silent film extracts produced on this occasion by Becky Clark, which in my opinion were excellent and also very entertaining. It must have taken time and hard work to accomplish such a superb end product. Scenery was minimalistic and I felt a little dark, however the stage was brightened by some lovely costumes which were colourful and appropriate for the era and the roles. Well done to the cast and crew who performed under some difficult circumstances as it was very hot in the theatre and it must have been even hotter on the stage. Nevertheless the singing by the full cast in the last chorus “Singin’ in the Rain” sounded impressive and was a good ending to the show.

Well done to Director Les Gomersall and to all involved in this production and thank you for a lovely evening I look forward to seeing you for your next production.
 

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