| © Seattle Times Feb. 23, 2005 5th Avenue troupe offers feel-good production By Richard Wallace |
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| "Singin' in the Rain," now playing at the 5th Avenue Theatre, is a hymn to artistic recycling. Popular songs of the 1930s, penned by the song-writing
team of Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, are showcased in a 1952 MGM musical starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Conner. Initially, the movie makes no big splash with the public or critics.
Years pass. Cast-off film becomes American masterpiece. In 1985, homage is paid by choreographer Twyla Tharp, who turns "Singin' in the Rain" into a Broadway musical, retaining most of the original choreography. Proving again that great American truism: We love to honor later whom we first choose to neglect. The current 5th Avenue production is a miracle of stagecraft: Eighteen scene changes, including two rain-drenched production numbers, all smoothly choreographed. Director Jamie Rocco and his spirited cast are seasoned pros, and costume designers Greg Barnes and Lynda Salsbury have a heyday with 1920s outfits that trumpet the return of the feather boa and the argyle sweater. For those who missed the movie, here's a quick intro: Silent-movie stars Don Lockwood (Michael Gruber) and Lina Lamont (Lisa Estridge) are Hollywood darlings. Every movie they make (which is basically the same one over and over) is a smash. One evening after the opening of their latest picture "The Royal Rascal," Don meets Kathy Selden (Christina Saffran Ashford), a bit movie player, on Hollywood Boulevard. He falls hard. At the premiere party, Don tells his longtime buddy, studio piano player Cosmo Brown (Michael Arnold), about Kathy, a story Cosmo has heard before. Minutes later, studio boss R.F. Simpson (Richard Sanders) unveils a surprise: a "talking movie." Soon everyone is talking about movies that talk. Problems arise when the studio tries to convert to sound with Lockwood and Lamont's next picture. Turns out lovely Lina's speaking voice is an insult to the eardrum, the vocal equivalent of a constantly repeating car wreck. Cosmo quickly has a solution: Kathy, who has a lovely voice, will overdub Lina's lines, without Lina's knowledge, of course. Great idea until Lina finds out. Gruber and Arnold have an easygoing chemistry and a way with a song. In "Make 'em Laugh," Arnold doesn't dazzle but he busts enough good moves to earn his warm applause. And together the two actors have the best dance duet in the show, "Moses Supposes," turning their diction coach (well-played by Steward Gregory) into a human pretzel. As Kathy, Christina Saffran Ashford, shows why musical theater, for all its glitter and glamour, is really about single moments, a singer taking a good song and making it soar. Ashford's romantic rendition of "You Are My Lucky Star" in Scene 8, kick-starts the show into a higher gear. She also works her magic opening Act 2 with a sweet, plaintive "Would You" that pays comic dividends at play's end. Seattle's own Lisa Estridge has the dubious honor of hiding her own terrific voice for three-fourths of the show. Mercifully, in Scene 2 of Act 2, she gets the stage to herself with Lina's tune "What's Wrong With Me," giving us musical-comedy perfection. Critic's review: Act 1, way too long, but Scene 11, hilarious. Act 2, needs more Cosmo. Dream sequence: Never really got it, here, or in the movie, but Krissy Richmond's dancing in the role made famous by Cyd Charisse makes you tremble. And what about the rain? Yes, it pours. Yes, it makes you feel damn good all over.
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