If you ask me…
– Tom Holehan
A RE-IMAGINED “SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN” AT POP
There’s actually no compelling reason to have a stage version of Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s classic 1952 movie musical, “Singin’ in the Rain”, but damned if they made one anyway back in 1983. I’ve already seen enough mediocre productions of this unnecessary movie-to-stage transfer to confirm that feeling. That bias firmly in place, I approached the current revival of “Singin’ in the Rain” at Playhouse on Park expecting the worse. Given how much I really love the plucky West Hartford theatre, I wish I was wrong.
Following the film’s plot with a devotion that borders on the slavish, “Singin’ in the Rain” is set in 1922 Hollywood where silent movies rule the day and Don Lockwood (Daniel Plimpton) and Lina Lamont (Carolyn Burke) are the stars of the minute. But a newfangled “sound picture” called “The Jazz Singer” is making waves and Don and Lina soon realize that their latest silent opus, a cornball swashbuckler, is now yesterday’s news. It is decided that in order to save their picture, sound will be added and the film will become a musical. “Singin’ in the Rain”, the movie, looks back fondly but with generous satiric bite at Hollywood’s mad rush to embrace sound even when it is revealed that star Lina has a voice that could peel paint.
At the Playhouse, this rendering of “Singin’” is being called a “re-imagining” and begins with the actual film being unreeled onstage only to misfire forcing the cast onstage to do their own version. I didn’t really understand the concept and found it especially confusing as it continued. And with a cast of only 8 it forces actors to play multiple roles and genders. I found few actors in this production prepared for the challenge of playing different parts throughout the show. They are a game group, however, and all seem to be having a great time under Evan Hoffmann’s chaotic direction.
In the leading roles, and the show’s only Equity members, Plimpton and Robert Mintz, as comic sidekick Cosmo Brown, are at their best as dancers (Mr. Mintz also serves as the choreographer). Late in act one the show comes to brief but memorable life with their “Moses Supposes” number that delivers in spades. Lindsay Gloriana Bohon starts slow but grows into the role of Kathy Seldon, the spunky ingénue suddenly hired as Lina’s voice double. The choice role of Lina, unfortunately, has been squandered by Miss Burke who really hasn’t the voice or comic bandwidth that makes the character so much fun to play. The producers have also made the dire decision to include a song cut from the original for her, “What’s Wrong with Me”, which should have stayed in the trunk.
But the score is mostly glorious even with just a keyboard and drums at POP accompanying classics like “Fit as a Fiddle”, “Make ‘Em Laugh”, “You Are My Lucky Star”, “Good Morning” and the title song which goes mostly without much rain as the act one curtain. Forest Entsminger’s by-the-numbers backstage setting rarely changes and Vilinda McGregor’s costumes are rather hit or miss. The show’s “Beautiful Girls” never really begins to suggest the Ziegfeld Follies.
Still, the movie-to-stage animal is a difficult beast to make work (just ask the producers of recent misfires like “Mrs. Doubtfire”, “Tootsie” and, God help us, “Rocky”). The current “Singin’” in West Hartford is another good example of when to stop.
“Singin’ in the Rain” continues at Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road in West Hartford, CT through August 17. For further information or ticket reservations call the theatre box office at: 860.523.5900 or visit: www.playhouseonpark.org.
Tom Holehan is one of the founders of the Connecticut Critics Circle, a frequent contributor to WPKN Radio’s “State of the Arts” program and the Stratford Crier and Artistic Director of Stratford’s Square One Theatre Company. He welcomes comments at: tholehan@yahoo.com. His reviews and other theatre information can be found on the Connecticut Critics Circle website: www.ctcritics.org.
