Forget all these idioms that connote disaster, scarcity, disappointment and sadness. You’ll have no need for them at Musical Theatre West’s production of Singin’ in the Rain. It’s a great success with an abundance of talent that certainly won’t disappoint or turn on the tears. Playing through July 26 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s 1983 stage version is sure to please even die-hard fans of the 1952 movie from which it was faithfully adapted.
Natalie MacDonald is Kathy Selden, the Broadway hopeful who is as cute, sweet, talented and ambitious as when Debbie Reynolds had the part. Kathy gets her chance at stardom when silent-movie queen Lina Lamont (Rebecca Ann Johnson) can’t make the transition to talkies. She’s gorgeous, but she’s got a voice that would make a family of screeching cats sound lovely. Not so with MacDonald. Her voice is riveting, especially in “You are My Lucky Star,” when she has the stage— and the spotlight— to herself. This is nothing short of an ethereal performance. She could just as well be an angel in that moment as a young woman freshly in love.
Leading man to Lina is Don Lockwood (Leigh Wakeford). Lina is enamored by Don off screen too, but he wants nothing to do with her. His heart has been snatched away by Kathy. When Lina has Kathy fired for landing a cream pie in the star’s face, Don is furious. During a love scene on set, Lina and Don nearly spit angry words at each other, yet without sound, all is hidden from their eventual audiences. Now that’s acting!
Director Jon Engstrom is to be congratulated for interjecting clips from these silent films in which Johnson and Wakeford star. This is a clever and creative touch: Today’s audience sees the films being acted out on stage and then again as would an audience of the time.
Karen St. Piere’s costumes are to die for. She dresses Johnson in a floor-length white gown and finery, and a stripper in balloons. Female ensemble members are adorned in baby-doll get-ups that turn women into little girls and, later, into bejeweled dancers against a crystalline screen.
John Glaudini, musical director and conductor, is superb at keeping the music coming with high energy throughout the show. Justin Michael Wilcox, playing Wakeford’s lifelong friend, Cosmo, is a ball of energy, especially in in his slapstick solo, “Make ‘Em Laugh.” Talented tap dancers Wyatt Larrabee (young Don) and Barrett Figueroa (young Cosmo), as well as Alison England, who plays the outrageous celebrity gossip, Dora Bailey, also deserve a special call-out.
Though in Wakeford’s first number, “You Stepped Out of a Dream,” hewasjustshyofthemarkonafew notes during the July 12 matinee, that was definitely not the case with the iconic “Singin’ in the Rain,” for which real water was used. (All to be gathered up and used on the grounds, according to executive director-producer Paul Garman in pre-show comments. We are in a drought, you know.)
Wakeford’s Jimmy Stewart lankiness lent itself to some serious telephone pole gymnastics. The joy Wakeford conveyed through his singing and dancing truly rivaled that of the man many consider one of America’s two great male dancers, the other, of course, being Fred Astaire. When I watched a Youtube clip of Gene Kelly in the 1952 film, I knew that Wakeford had given his performance a bit more verve and made me a whole bunch happier. This is not to dis the master stepper, but I for one was not simply touched by Wakeford’s rendition but infused with happiness. Even if no one had ever done something so foolish and so wonderful like dancing and singing in the rain on my account, Wakeford made me feel as if, surely, someone had at least once in my life. That alone was well worth the price of admission.
Singin’ in the Rain continues at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center through Sunday, July 26. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm, as well as Saturday, July 18 and 25, at 2pm, Sunday, July 19, at 7pm and Thursday, July 23, at 8pm. Tickets start at $20. Tickets may be purchased online at musical org or by calling (562) 856-1999 x4. The Carpenter Performing Arts Center is located at 6200 E. Atherton St.
