Singing in the Rain

~~As the old adage goes “The Show Must go On” and when Julie Palmer, who was playing Dora Bailey was taken ill there was nothing more to do than Jan Jackson, the director stepping into the part, and I have to say on the Saturday evening when we saw the show you would not have known she had not been rehearsing this all the way through.
All the leading parts in this show call for good acting, singing and dancing which is just what they had in this production, Jonny White as Don Lockwood was excellent, he was able to get everything out of this part and make it his own, although I would imagine Gene Kelly played a small part in this! I especially enjoyed the title number, Singing in the Rain where Jonny not only excelled in his tap dancing and singing his way through this but also managed to do it with some 600 gallons of water pouring down on him, no mean feat but he was not fazed at all. Jonny was joined in this number by a full chorus who also showed off their tap dancing abilities to the full and I have to say it was a joy to see everyone smiling while they did this, something which does not always happen.
Joining Jonny on stage as his dancing partner was Lee Brammer as Cosmo Brown; again Lee was able to give this part his all in both his singing and dancing. Lee was also to show his tap dancing abilities when he was joined by Jonny in Fit as a Fiddle, and I have to say they needed to be very fit to deliver the intricate moves in this number.
I would imagine everyone who has seen this show will remember the voice of Lina Lamont even if they cannot remember the actor who played this part and you need to have someone who can deliver a very squeaky voice and keep it up for a full week, after the numerous rehearsals Kerry Masson-Wilson delivered this perfectly even though I would think the whole audience had her voice ringing in their ears by the end of the night, for all the right reasons. Kerry must be praised for keeping this up and never letting it slip as well as performing all week, well done Kerry.
The love interest in this show for Don Lockwood is of course Kathy Seldon, the young girl who is chosen to speak for the domineering Lina. I am so pleased this society cast Olivia Fisher in this part, not only did she look every bit the part but she was able to carry it off with ease.  Olivia’s singing, dancing and acting were second to none and she was able to prove her abilities when she sang such numbers as Would You and of course Good Morning when she was joined by Don and Cosmo.
There were also others playing some great cameo characters such as Ben Jackson as R.F.Simpson, Michael Parker as Roscoe Dexter, Anthony Palmer as The Diction Teacher and of course Joe Cawton as the young Don, he was the one I saw but I am sure Daniel Rice will have played an equally good part, and Daniel Jackson as the young Cosmo. There were others far too numerous to mention but suffice to say there was not a weak link amongst them.
Many congratulations to everyone involved in this show.
 

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