Singin In The Rain

Fiddlehead Theatre's final show of their season is "Singin' in the Rain", 1986 stage version of the 1952 Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds film. Set in 1927 Hollywood, the show is a light hearted romantic comedy about the early days of sound film, when many a studio found itself scrambling to salvage the careers of its chipmunk-voiced silent film stars. Director Stacey Stephens recreates the bygone days of the 1920's while musical director Bobbie Hoffman leads the orchestra and cast in the melodic songs of the era and choreographer Wendy Hall creates magical moments with her inventive dance numbers especially all the fantastic tap dances. Since the show is about the old black and white films of the past, special praise goes to Jamie Monovoukas for his hysterically funny film sequences.

Stacey not only directs this show but like Alfred Hitchcock, appears in this show in a standout musical number called "Beautiful Girls" where he shows off his strong tenor voice. He also created all the colorful costumes for the show. The leading man, Don Lockwood is played by David Costa. His dancing in this show is splendid especially in the "Singin' in the Rain" number where he bounds about the stage energetically, splashing around in puddles and "Gotta Dance" which is part of the talking movie where the chorus members get to show off their dance moves with David. Both are both long dance segments which he handles with ease. David also sings "You Were Meant for Me" and "You Are My Lucky Star" to his love interest in this show, Kathy Seldon played by Karen Vincent. She plays the spunky ingénue who steals Don's heart by insulting his acting talents. Karen gets to show off her lovely voice in the "Dreaming of You" number with the girls, "Would You", "You Are My Lucky Star" and in "Good Morning" which is one of the best dance numbers in the show with David, Karen and Jeff Mahoney as Cosmo flipping over a couch during it. One of the biggest scene stealers in this show is Jeff as Cosmo. He is hilarious from the first moment he walks out on the stage. This young man is a triple threat performer who dances up a storm with David in "Fit As a Fiddle" where they are clad in ugly plaid suits while pretending to play fiddles as well as in "Moses Supposes" where they tap dance on top of a table and chairs. This number stops the show as does his solo number, "Make 'Em Laugh" where he does pratfall after pratfall while constantly dancing over and behind the sofa as well as running into walls and boards, too. This song is an example of slapstick at its best. Jeff has many one liners and makes everyone of them hit pay dirt. Bravo. Another comic performance is by Karen Fogerty as Lina Lamont, the high pitched nasal voiced talentless silent film star. The microphone scene where she keeps turning her head at the wrong time is priceless as is the film scene where she keeps playing with her pearl necklace which causes horrible noises in the film. Karen truly creates a dumb blonde who keeps you laughing at her many crazy antics.

Other funny performances are given by Brad Blake as the exasperated director, Roscoe Dexter who Lina drives crazy, Bob Parsons as the befuddled producer who has to turn his silent film studio into a talkie one quickly, Marcy Fisher as gossip columnist Dora Baily who fawns over all the performers ( she also plays a diction teacher who doesn't have much success with Lina and constantly takes a swig from her flask filled with booze) and Jordan Greeley as another diction teacher for Don who gets thrown about in the "Moses Supposes" number. At the close of the show, the cast appears with umbrellas to dance to  Singin' in the Rain".
 So for a trip back to carefree days of the 1920's Hollywood, be sure catch this show where, yes, it really does rain on stage.

 SINGIN' IN THE RAIN ( 6 - 15 April, 2007)

 Fiddlehead Theatre, 109 Central Street, Norwood, MA

1 (781) 762-0528 or www.fiddleheadtheatre.com

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