SINGIN' IN THE RAIN.Tour to 30 November.
Tour
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed
West Yorkshire Playhouse (Quarry Theatre) To 23 February 2002, then tour
Runs 2hr 40min One interval
TICKETS (West Yorkshire Playhouse performances) 0113 213 7700
Review Timothy Ramsden 5 January
A lively new look at old Hollywood's nostalgic wallow in its former glory days.If the high sin of theatre is boredom, Jude Kelly's production passes the virtue test. Its 90 minute first act races along, while the shorter second act reaches its finale almost before it seems properly under way.
A mix of song, dance, comedy and an inventive interplay of witty video projection with live action (and it is that order of attention at times) evokes the late twenties. Not a hint of the Wall Street crash, for this is Tinseltown, where Monumental Pictures faces the fatal threat of the talkies. Suddenly its platinum-glam. leading lady, Lina Lamont, becomes a squeaky, shrieky liability. But she has a cast-iron contract, left over from her glory days of the silents; even studio boss R.F. Simpson can't break it.
Lina's screen lover Don Lockwood is Monumental's other big splash. He's the good guy to Lamont's evil witch, battling against her near magic power as a studio star to cast a black spell over new girl on the lot. That's Kathy Selden, a legit. actress whose off-screen relation with Don sends Lina into fits of fearful screaming and remorseless revenge as she has Kathy consigned to five years of invisibility, dubbing Lina's grating tones with high-class speech and song.
After seasons in Leeds and at the National Kelly's production whizzes along, easily surviving the temporary post-Christmas loss of its lead male, David Hulston stepping up, and out, very capably. The other leads, Cheryl McAvoy's Kathy and Richard Brightiff as Cosmo the studio composer who is also Don's ever-helpful friend, are excellent.
Singin' might not probe beneath the studio myths but it presents them neatly, as with the film director and self-proclaimed artiste who swivels his judgement through an instant 180 degrees at a word from his paymaster Simpson.
The heavy miking becomes tiring live theatre disembodied. Anyone booking front-row seats might bring waterproof wear. Otherwise, this is a dynamic piece of music theatre (and a forerunner of the WYP's digital Wizard of Oz?) sung, danced and played with verve and having all the appearance of a happy show able to send audiences out into the rain or sun humming much more than the scenery.
Dora Bailey/Miss Dinsmore: Kim Ismay
R.F.Simpson: Tony Whittle
Miss Cashdime/Dolores: Samantha Murray
Roscoe Dexter: Michael Neilson
Cosmo Brown: Richard Brightiff
Don Lockwood: Darren Bennett
Lina Lamont: Jacqui Rae
Kathy Selden: Cheryl McAvoy
Production Tenor/Rod: David Hulston
Olga Mara: Julia Hinchcliffe
Buytler: Damien Delaney
Policeman: Chris Hornby
Wig Master: Steven Harris
Sound Engineer: Mark Connell
Sid Phillips: Paul Charles
Faynard Nicholas: Leroy Ricardo Jones
Exotic Dancer: Sarah Cortez
Assistant Director: Claire Taylor
Wardrobe Mistress: Anna Lowe
Zelda Zanders: Cara Elston
Male Swing: Justin Sparkes
Female Swing: Tanya Willis
Man on Screen: Phillip Franks
Young Don: Hope Sellars
Young Cosmo: Mitchell Gaffney
Young Nicholas Brothers: Lucas Jordan Akins, Rohan Pinnock-Hamilton
Director: Jude Kelly
Designer: Huntley Muir/Jessica Curtis
Lighting: Robert Pyant
Film & Video: Mic Pool/Ashley Clough
Sound: Simon Whitehorn
Choreographer: Stephen Mear
Musical Arranger: Stuart Pedlar
Musical Director: Dane Preece
2002-02-13 01:57:22