Gush for Singin’ in the Rain!
The answer is a triumphant, “Yes!”
Yes, Sherwood Park’s Festival Players’ Christmas gift to Edmonton, Singin’ in the Rain: The Musical, does manage to create a quite dazzling job of the joyous deluge in which Gene Kelly danced the title tune in the 1952 MGM musical. For one thing – there’s real rain. It comes cascading down in sheets from the flies, soaking wet and creating creditable puddles complete with copious splashing. The scene brought the first act to a spectacular climax and elicited a burst of spontaneous applause from the audience.
The musical plays until Dec. 30 at Festival Place.
Singin’ in the Rain is quite simply the best movie musical ever made. I don’t make that claim loosely – it’s backed up by just about every list of great movies ever published. That makes for a problem for any stage show. How do you recreate a well-nigh perfect movie elevated by the three original stars – Gene Kelly, one of the major players of the time, Donald O’Connor, an established song and dance man, and a luminous 19-year-old Debbie Reynolds? The trio was backed by an inspired assemblage of writers (Comden & Green), song pluggers (Freed and Brown) and a bright young co-director (Stanley Donen, who was only 28 at the time).
Obviously the Festival Players couldn’t approach that starry array. but they were wise enough to secure the services of Linette Smith who, over the years at Scona High and at the Fringe, has fashioned a series of musicals as well-produced as any professional local company.
Singin’ in the Rain pulses with life, and wisely keeps the best bits of the movie while finding an expression that is all its own. That’s because Smith and her talented players put their own stamp on the familiar material. The show is also about something, romance, of course as all musicals are, but it is also about the film industry at a time of transition: the change from silents to talkies. Cameras are housed in booths. Mics are hidden in full view.
The story is of Don Lockwood (Stephen Allred), a full-of-himself silent film star, his buddy Cosmo Brown (Mark Sinongco) and the young starlet Kathy Selden (Maren Richardson) that Lockwood falls for. Smith recreates many of the hilarious movie’s set pieces – like the scene where the soundtrack of a film goes out of sync and the characters end up saying each other’s lines. The other key player is Lina Lamont (Alyson Horne), the preening silent star whose singing (and speaking) voice sounds like a cat being strangled.
Allred may not be Gene Kelly, but he shares with the star matinee idol good looks, an excellent stage voice and a high degree of zest. Sinongco, who recently made notable appearances in Spring Awakening and Next to Normal, is a stage wiz – singing, acting and dancing up a storm. His set piece Make ‘Em Laugh may not reach the athletic heights of Donald O’Connor’s, but it is a first-class piece of comic character dancing, and the performer makes it his own. Richardson’s Kathy is a spunky lass with a distinct personality and a strong theatrical voice. Horne, in the role that brought Jean Hagen an Oscar nomination, is a hoot. She even gets a new comic song written just for the part – which she delivers with comic gusto. The show is full of exuberant music (mostly old movie tunes) like Good Mornin’ and You Were Meant For Me and the duo of Allred & Sinongco pump life into the vaudeville jazz-patter ditties, Moses Supposes and Fit as a Fiddle.
The costumes (by Brian Bast) and special effects (some comic silent films) are impressive and give the show an expensive-looking sheen. The huge company of 32 performers sure fills up the stage – particularly in the splendid Broadway Rhythm number. There are 15 in the excellent and highly supportive pit band.
First and foremost, Singing’ in the Rain is a dance show, and long-time Edmonton choreographer Shelly Tookey has made sure the dancing is first rate, based on the original choreography by Kelly and Donen. Her arresting dance numbers are accomplished, practised and precise throughout.
