Review: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN at Shedley Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 6th October 2023.

The Northern Light Theatre Company continues its 2023 season with Singin’ in the Rain, the stage musical based on the 1952 American romantic musical comedy film, with Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor. It was adapted from the film in 1983 by its creators, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and has all of the familiar songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. This popular musical turns up regularly in Adelaide in both amateur and professional productions. This company, in fact, presented a previous production in 2007. Sue Pole, who directed that production, is the director of this one, with choreographer, Kerreane Sarti, who also choreographed the 2007 production, and musical director, Penny Vandervlag.

The days of the silent movie are drawing to a close and two of its biggest stars of romantic costume dramas, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont, will have to make the transition to the talkies. The first talkie, The Jazz Singer, changed everything. While Don moves smoothly into the new era, Lina has a voice that could shatter rocks, no acting talent, and an IQ as small as her ego is large.

The studio publicity machine has always pushed the idea that Don and Lina are romantically linked in real life, as well as on-screen, and Lina believes her own publicity, so she is livid when Don meets, and falls for young hopeful, Kathy Seldon, who wants to be in films. Kathy is everything that Lina is not. Composer and pianist, Cosmo Brown, provides accompanying music to Don and Lina’s scenes as they are being filmed, to help them get into the mood, and he joins forces with Don to help Kathy get noticed. Kathy eventually dubs Lena’s voice as the trio turns it into a musical. Ironically, Betty Noyes, dubbed the singing voice of Debbie Reynolds in the film.

Although the title refers to singing, it is really very much a dance-based musical. Don and Cosmo each have a major solo that depends on exceptional dancing skills. In this production, though, the choreography has been tailored to suit singers, leaving the individual vocals, and the ensemble work, to carry the production.

Dominic Hodges takes the leading role of Don Lockwood, with his wife, Kate Hodges, as Kathy Seldon, so their close rapport in their roles came as no surprise. The third member of the collaborators, Cosmo Brown, is given a personable interpretation by Thomas Sheldon. They each offer fine performances in their individual characters, and their duets and trios are memorable.

Michelle Davy steals every scene as the thoroughly obnoxious, Lina Lamont, the fly in the Monumental Studios’ ointment. She is the bane of studio head, R. F. Simpson, and director, Roscoe Dexter, played by Russell Ford and Kyle McAuliffe, who show their frustration at the hands of Lina and her lawyer’s advice on the power of her contract. Davy doesn’t miss a trick in her rendition of Lina.

One of the big numbers is Cosmo’s Make ‘em Laugh, a frenetic, highly physical piece, with the iconic moment when he twice runs up a wall, into back flips, then leaps feet first through a third wall that turns out to be paper. A pair of very heavy pieces of scenery were wheeled on, stabilised by members of the cast, and Thomas Sheldon, as Cosmo Brown began the song. Disappointingly, he merely stood in front of the first one, circled the second, and skipped through the third. Presumably, as the company had gone to the trouble of building the heavy set pieces, it was a last-minute loss of confidence.

The iconic number, of course, is Singin’ in the Rain, which places demands on the set designer and builders, and the stage crew, not to mention the actor playing Don Lockwood. It is easy enough to create a storm on film, but far trickier onstage. Unlike the film, it is not easy to generate vast quantities of water falling and pooling to allow Don to splash water everywhere from the flowing gutter so the choreography has to be cleverly adjusted to create similar excitement.

There is plenty of support in the minor roles, and a lively interlude from Young Don and Cosmo, played by Toby and Joshua Mason in a flashback to their beginnings in Vaudeville.

I felt that the production could have benefited from an extra rehearsal or two in order to improve the technical side. There were a number of very long scene changes, and a couple that actually seemed to be ready, but waiting for the performers. There was late cuing on follow spots, one actor beginning their dialogue in darkness, and the sound balance was not always what it could have been, some spoken dialogue being a little hard to hear over the orchestra. Hopefully, it will pick up in the next performance or two.

The sets are quite basic, and minimalist, but there are some very impressive and colourful costumes for the chorus and dancers, especially those worn by the showgirls, with their elaborate feathered headdresses. There is also a lot happening in the big ensemble numbers, with a small core of trained dancers, tap routines, and a huge, always mobile chorus.

Sam Davy’s rushes from the scenes that had been shot and excerpts from the film were projected onto screens to great effect, although in one scene where the new sound technology is introduced by the head of the studio, using a modern video projector, and a very small screen that clearly had nobody behind it, let it down a little.

In spite of the shortcomings, the local audience was generous in its enthusiastic laughter and applause, and, no doubt, the production will continue to enjoy good houses.