"Singin' In The Rain"

Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.

"Singin' In The Rain" is an iconic film, first released seventy years ago, which just shows how beloved this musical is to be performing to full auditoriums up and down the country so many decades on. I can remember seeing the film as a child on TV and loving it, even at such a young age. Morecambe and Wise recreated the scene featuring the title song with Ernie Wise playing the Gene Kelly role where he is dancing in the rain. the tribute being one of the most loved scenes from the Morecambe and Wise TV career. It has to be one of the best musicals ever made.

Don Lockwood is a silent movie star, known for his dancing and stunt work; then comes the transition from silent movies to the talkies. Don has been paired with Lina Lamont, and they are the rumoured in the press to be romantically linked. Lina's voice is perfect for silent films but not so perfect for the arrival of the talkies and their first talking picture, "The Duelling Cavalier", which is a complete disaster due to the poor sound dubbing.

Kathy Seldon, quite literally has a run in with Don, and again, when she has been hired to leap out of a mock cake at the celebration after show party for the film Don and Lina starred in, "The Royal Rascal", they find a mutual attraction. Enter Cupid - not literally - and eventually the inevitable happens.

Kathy is hired to dub the singing voice of Lina's character when the film is made into a musical, "The Dancing Cavalier", and the audiences fall in love with Lina's "voice". It's such a success that they call for Lina to sing live. Lins knows, and is not a bit happy that Kathy's voice has been dubbed over her own, as well as learning that Don and Kathy are in love, but Don and Cosmo tell her to mime and Kathy would sing behind the curtains, but you can only keep a secret like this quiet for so long......

Don Lockwood is played by Sam Lips, and there is no disputing that Sam is a Broadway star; he has that aura on stage. His voice oozes class and he makes the dancing look effortless, especially in the big dance numbers like "Singin' In The Rain" and even more so in the "Gotta dance" section with the balletic overtures. In Sam's resume he has been understudy a few times on Broadway but he has leading man written all over him as this role shows clearly.

Charlotte Gooch plays Kathy Seldon, and with Kathy's dance background, this would always be an area that she would excel, and she does. She almost looks to be floating through the air, especially when the dry ice takes hold of the stage. She also has a beautiful voice and has the acting nailed; a triple threat, and as this applies to Sam and Ross, it's a triple, triple threat!

Ross McLaren as Cosmo Brown, shows a lovely feel for comedy, just take a look at the choreography for "Make 'Em Laugh", especially the suitcase scene. He has physical comedy as well as facial and visual comedy, and a great choice for Cosmo. He received an additional round of applause for the scene where he walks up the wall, does a back flip from the wall and back on to his feet without missing a beat. 

One thing with all three of these actors is that they have great chemistry between them and this comes over very believable. When the scene comes just before the rain section and Don and Kathy are kissing, you actually feel a certain pang for Cosmo as he wanders offstage on his own.

Lina Lamont is played by Jenny Gayner. What a performance, both physically as well as vocally. The voice for Lina is high pitched Brooklyn, a cross between Betty Boop and Marge Simpson. 

The gorgeous Sandra Dickinson plays Dora Bailey, the radio reporter, there to paint a picture of who's who on the red carpet, getting those big-name exclusive chats with the big names. Very glam character and lovely to see Sandra on stage again.

The soundtrack contains several classics such as "Make 'Em Laugh", "Beautiful Girl", "Good Morning", "Moses Supposes", "Fit As A Fiddle", "All I Do Is Dream Of You", "You Are My Lucky Star", "Gotta Dance" and of course the title track. All delivered with panache, energy and style.

Directed by Jonathan Church, this show is pacy, and at two hours and twenty minutes, without the interval, every minute keeps your attention to the full. The Hollywood feel is there and it transports you back to the glitz and glamour days. The big song and dance numbers make you feel like you're in the West End and the romantic numbers give you that lovely, luscious, romantic feel.

The set and costume design by Simon Higlett are everything you'd expect from such a big show. I loved the costumes, all classy and colourful and the set, combined with the vivacious Lighting Design, by Tim Mitchell, makes this production a real class show. Sound Design by Gareth Owen makes sure that the mix is just right and the timings are spit on.

Choreographed by Andrew Wright; this is dance at its' best, from ballet to tap to out and out Gene Kelly routines, and all delivered effortlessly, as if this was what everyone does every day.

The Video Design, which shows the silent film sections are by Ian William Galloway.

Everything about this musical takes be straight back to being a kid and watching classics like this on TV on Sunday afternoons with my parents. I left with a fuzzy warm feeling inside, half hoping that it would be raining so I could splash in a few puddles and hum "Do De Do Do, Do De Do De Do Do De Do". Where is the rain when you need it?

Here's a few facts about the show; it uses six thousand litres of water, warmed to 37 degrees, which takes 15 minutes to drain from the stage piped through over 100 metres of rubber hose. The water used is then cleaned after every show and recycled. Just in case you wanted to impress anyone else with knowledge of the show.

Still one of the classiest musicals around, whether it be on film or on stage, and I just know that tomorrow morning, I'll wake up with "Good Morning" racing around my head.

"Singin' In The Rain" will be reigning supreme at the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall until Saturday 9 July, and you wouldn't want to miss this one, would you? Would you?