Reviews

Singin' in the Rain (Tour – Plymouth

Karen Bussell finds ”Singin’ in the Rain” a truly immersive experience.

A truly immersive experience – particularly for those sitting near the front.

WhatsOnStage award winner Jonathan Church‘s touring revival of Singin’ In The Rain is pure delight – and there speaks the curmudgeonly one not usually greatly enamoured of musicals.

Slick, polished and beautifully presented, it takes all of five minutes to know the next two and a half hours are going to be top notch.

With a superbly honed ensemble and well-drilled effervescent swing, precise to the finest detail, the bar is set high for the main characters but they do not disappoint.

James Leece (Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures stalwart) can certainly sing as well as dance. His heartthrob cipher Don Lockwood is increasingly two-dimensional compared with the earlier glimpse we have of his enthusiastic vaudeville days as the piece pokes gentle fun at the concept of celebrity with Jacqueline Clarke (Dave Allen character actor, A Sharp Intake of Breath) fuelling the fans’ fever with gossip and speculation as red carpet radio commentator Dora Bailey.

Maxwell Caulfield (Emmerdale‘s Mark Wylde, Miles Cosby in Dynasty, Casualty‘s Dr Jim Brodie) is suitably smooth as film maker RF Simpson and Paul Grunert (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Friar Tuck in Plymouth’s Babes In The Woods panto) extracts every ounce of humour from the role of bumbling and exasperated director Roscoe Dexter.

Amy Ellen Richardson is sweet as Kathy Selden with good range and fine dancing pins but with little palpable chemistry with her leading man.

Stealing the show and with all the best lines are Corrie’s Molly Compton – Vicky Burns – and hoofer Stephane Anelli.

Burns relishes the role of Lina Lamont, daft and dim darling of the silent movies – all a-quivering lips and hammy overkill – whose shrill Noo Yowk accent just ain’t going to cut it in the talkies. Wonderfully funny moments stick in the mind with the hidden microphone scene of particular note. Perfect.

And Anelli is excellent grasping every nuance of the role of rubber-legged Cosmo – quick talking, delivering sly wit with tremendous timing and contorting comically. A solid dancer too, he is pure pleasure to watch.

Andrew Wright’s tight and inventive choreography – and not just of the dance – is terrific, John Donovan‘s orchestra is spot-on and Simon Higlett‘s drab set (with role on props to ring the changes) is built to hold some 12,000 litres– less that taken home by an unprepared audience – of ‘rain’.

Loved it

– Karen Bussell