Screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolf Green. Songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. Willoughby Theatre Company. Director: Declan Moore. The Concourse Chatswood. 12-27 October, 2024
Reviewed : 12 October, 2024*
Willoughby Theatre Company has done it again! This production has real class. Declan Moore, with his cast and crew, has captured the gentle charm and tapping pace that has made Singin’ in the Rain so loved since Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen made it such a hit in 1952.
From the choreography and the continuity to the colour and the costumes and the comedy and charisma, this production has class … and rain! It is obvious that no expense has been spared – and that an inordinate amount of time has gone into the planning and time needed to recreate what designer Neil Shotter aptly calls “the vibrant spirit and charm of the original film”.
To do that, Shotter, Moore and WTC’s president Scott Richmond have set the production in a vintage film studio, complete with backdrops, posters and screens. Shotter studied “the intricate engineering of water catchment systems” to generate the rain – and multiple layers of waterproofing to contain it – managing to create “something that the Concourse hasn’t seen before”.
That attention to detail is evident throughout the production, including the filming for the two silent movies that are intrinsic to the plot. It must have been fun for those involved to work with the costumes, the wigs, the sword fighting and a completely different dramatic style.
The choreographers, Moore himself and Amy Curtin, the musical director, Jeremy Curtin, lighting designers Matt Lutz and Sean Clarke and technical director Linus Karsai head the long list of technicians, operators and assistants that collaborated to realise Moore’s dream. They should be more than happy with the result. They have given the cast a wonderful set on which to work – and they work hard!
Matthew de Meyrick plays Don Lockwood, the silent movie actor whose name has been linked romantically with his co-star, Lina Lamont, played with feisty sassiness – and excellent comic timing – by Nikole Music. Taryn-Lea Bright is Kathy Selden, who steals Lockwood’s heart with her lovely voice and honesty – and becomes the brunt of Lamont’s jealous rage. Jerome Studdy plays Cosmo Brown, Lockwood’s talented sidekick who never seems to get the romantic breaks.
All four work cleverly together, establishing clear characters as they sing and dance their way through a first act that establishes their relationships – and the effect of the introduction of the ‘talkies’ on silent movie companies and their stars.
De Meyrick and Bright, in the straight, romantic roles, carry their characters from an awkward meeting on a park bench and various misunderstandings until they find each other in You Were Meant for Me. Music and Studdy create the comedy, Music by sustaining Lamont’s brassy, high-pitched, nasal voice and temperamental reactions – Studdy with some amazing dancing, clever acrobatic pratfalls and excellent use of pause and comic timing
Lachlan Leighton plays frustrated movie producer R.F. Simpson and Samuel Dobb uses comic pause most effectively to create a very funny Roscoe Dexter. Adrian Davis is the diction teacher whose tongue twisters lead de Meyrick and Studdy into the nimble wording of Moses Supposes and the even more nimble tap routine that goes with it.
Sarah Dolan is Lamont’s “pal” Zelda, Melissa Glinn is Lamont’s elocution teacher Miss Dinsmore and Jillian Narezzi introduces the show as radio journalist Dora Bailey.
With Aleksander Justin and Tianna Koolloos, they lead a supporting ensemble of thirty-seven singers and dancers who play a variety of characters and perform some very demanding dance routines – including the finale where they, along with the principals, are all “dancin’ and singing’ in the rain”.
Singin’ in the Rain is a much-loved musical that portrays a little bit of movie history as well as well as giving musical theatre some of its most loved songs.
Willoughby Theatre Company’s production under the direction and vision of Declan Moore is true to both the original movie and the musical itself. As well as a very classy production – and an amazing amount of rain – expect the ladder, the lamppost, the two-toned tap shoes, and forty-nine yellow raincoats, rainhats, black and yellow wellington boots and some pink umbrellas!
First published in Stage Whispers magazine
*Opening Night