SIngin' in the Rain Review by Garry West

Her Majesty's Theatre

Nightly at 8pm till May 29th, Matinees May 22, 23 & 29 at 2pm

Review Garry West

BLOC Music theatres production of Singin' in the Rain is now playing, and I must say that I was quite blown away by some of the achievements they have made for this production  based on the classic movie musical of the same name. The film starred Gene Kelly and featured Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds.

How do you approach a classic? You hire a great creative team, and BLOC has done that. Peter Tulloch does a superb job as director; he captures the funny as well as the poignant in the piece. His 99th theatre show is one of his best with his attention to detail a pleasure to observe.                                  

The entire cast is commendable and Singin' In the Rain is packed with catchy songs, sharp one-liners and some inventive and witty choreography. It also helps to have such a believable, interesting plot, based on fact. In the late '20s, when movies switched from silent to talkies, dozens of successful actors were suddenly thrown out of work because they didn't have the voice. The four principals in this production are great with Melbourne based Callan Lewis playing Gene Kelly's role as the consummate song and dance man. Even Kelly would be proud of this young mans performance and Lewis is a far better singer. Leah Moneghetti plays Kathy Selden the rising star that sings, dances and is ideally matched with Callan Lewis. Moneghetti is impressive in all areas. The scheming villain of this piece, Lina Lamont, is a role to kill for and if not acted correctly can ruin a show. Sallie Burke -Muller has full control of her character and almost steals the production with her excellent performance. The fourth member of the principal group is Luke Rice who plays the demanding role of Cosmo Brown the character Donald O'Connor made his own in the movie. Rice is sensational, he sings, dances up a storm and his flair for comic timing is first class. Rice is a real star in the making.

Mentions also for Julie Stacey, Matt Noble, Gareth Grainger, Joshua Vucicevic and Paul Shelmerdine who all impress in very different ways.

The creative team has done a remarkable job in bringing this show to Her Majesty's stage. It's well dressed with great sets and designs by Nathan Weyers and his crew led by Jim Muller and special input from Damian Muller. Some of the effects will draw huge nightly applause especially the rain..                        

Choreographer Alister Smith and assistant Carly Scott have set the bar extremely high for what is one of the most difficult shows where dance is concerned. They succeed in all areas. Carolyn Bennett's choral work is terrific and musical director Neil Goven and the orchestra are as good as it gets. Mystic Entertaintmenz lighting, sound and very clever old time movie presentations are simply dazzling. To quote audience members, "I don't know when I've seen a better show."