Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Singing In The Rain’, which is at The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 16th of July.
There are two vital ingredients in the musical ‘Singing In The Rain’; singing and rain. And there are lashings and splashings of both in this absolutely wonderful stage revival of the 1952 Hollywood movie. But, of course, there are things you can do on stage that add an extra dimension to the flat screen version.
With rain forecast, the theatre thoughtfully provides the front row of the stalls with bright yellow ponchos; so they look like the starting line-up of a plastic duck race (which is funny enough). But with the title song yet to come, there is an ominous roll of thunder around the auditorium and, as one, the audience crackles into their water proofs in the nick of time. And they need them too – because, as the sprinklers spring into action, Matthew Croke’s jubilant recreation of Gene Kelly’s most famous movie moment is awash with brolly flapping and side swiping of puddles; sending spray flying in all directions (which is hilarious). Try that in the cinema.
This is quite simply the biggest spectacle I recall seeing at the New Vic. A dozen actors, literally dripping with talent, become twelve equally gifted musicians, dancers, actrobats and comedians as director Elizabeth Newman pays homage to every minute of the movie. Dance routines – verging on circus gymnastics – which would have been filmed over several days and then tightly edited for the film, are performed live on stage before our very eyes. Croke leaps flat-footed onto tables whilst Christian Edwards, as Don Lockwood’s side kick Cosmo Brown, wriggles through a tennis racket and plays the trombone with his toes in his party piece “Make ‘Em Laugh.” The stunts are stunning. And Edward’s casual, knowing, by play with the audience is hugely engaging.
Sarah Vezmar’s Lina Lamont – the silent movie star who hopes the ‘Talkies’ will be flash in the pan – is the most loveable bitch in the business. She’s doomed because she speaks like a plastic duck with pneumonia – and her ability to sustain her tuneless, pitchless delivery – and earn howls of laughter with it – is a wonder. Her plaintive solo “What’s Wrong With Me” is an absolute hoot and her drumming is so cool she already has another job to go to.
Into this crazy movie world steps the young, unaffected Kathy Seldon; destined to provide the voice-over to save Lina’s career. Eleanor Brown has such a smiling, sunny, countenance on stage. She’s blatantly enjoying every moment of the show as she bounces with unbounded energy into a song and dance rendition of “Good Morning” or slips into the moodily sentimental “You Stepped Out Of A Dream”. It’s a beautifully natural girl-next-door performance that perfectly foils the rumbustiousness of the showbiz boys.
Sian Williams choreography is impeccably faithful to the film – full of period posing and comedy routines that are a joy to watch. And the way the production reproduces the movie’s jokey set pieces in which a naively placed microphone causes such chaos is immaculate. We see the actors play the scene live, and then watch the disasters on black and white playback.
But the most remarkable thing is that it’s all done on a sixpence. The New Vic’s circular stage is small enough as it is; but it’s reduced in circumference by a raised, waterproofed, podium. It is on this modest platform that the action and adventure takes place, with music stands dotted beyond and below it so the cast can leap on and off stage to swap instruments (and costumes) in a twinkling.
The end result is sheer, unbridled exuberance. It was that quality that made the film such a timely post-war success … and will guarantee this production chases away present-day dark clouds.
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