Singin' in the Rain
Richmond Theatre, London

Graham Lee

At first it seems like a bold move to try to stage Singin' in the Rain, the most cinematic of musicals. This is a musical about the movies themselves, 'shadows on film', and the arrival of sound in Hollywood in 1927, when the film industry 'just added talking'.

On reflection though, much of the musical takes part on one kind of stage or another - notably the film premieres that bookend the action, Kathy Seldon's floor show at the after show party, and the vaudeville apprenticeship of Don Lockwood and Cosmo Brown. The filming on soundstages using early sound equipment, of course, provides most of the comic material.

You can't blame the Bros Theatre Company for trying to copy the movie's key scene, of Don 'singin' and dancin' in the rain', as the musical without this number would be a bit like Hamlet without the 'to be or not to be' soliloquy. However, this suffers by comparison with the movie, even though the theatre provides a little shower and puddles for principal actor Bryan Cardus to splash about in on stage. Although Cardus acquits himself fairly well with the singin', his dancin' inevitably appears arthritic compared to the athleticism of Gene Kelly.

In fact, although the production gets by for the most part by exploiting our fond memories of the film, it is most successful when it tries to adapt the musical for the theatre. The ensemble numbers are particularly successful, possibly because they are redolent of the early film musicals, which were mainly adaptations of Broadway shows with large troupes of chorines. 'Beautiful Girl' is more like a Busby Berkeley number than the original version, despite the fact that Berkeley choreographed for the camera. It also helps that here they dispense with the gaudy, technicolor fashion show from the movie.

Jeffrey Chinappen probably couldn't manage Donald O'Connor's acrobatic clowning as Cosmo in 'Make 'Em Laugh', but nevertheless gives a great pantomime performance during this number, that beats O'Connor's limited repertoire of girns and reminds us what the movies lost when they added talking.

The show can however be faulted for its occasional cynicism. There's no doubting the exuberance of the uplifting, feel-good songs, but at times the players have got their tongues so firmly in their cheeks that you become disengaged from the play. Sure, the movie was ironic and tongue-in-cheek too, but it was also heartfelt and affectionate about its subject matter, even while sending it up. For example, Kelly's Douglas Fairbanks spoof in 'The Royal Rascal' was so good-natured and convincing because he had himself played that kind of role (for example as D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers). The version in the show appears, by contrast, condescending, and is filmed in slow motion, as if old swashbucklers were just bad films.

The comedy is by and large successful, with Maria Waters giving a particularly well-received performance as Lina Lamont, the silent film star with the grating voice. But when it comes to romance, Cardus is as big a ham as his character, needing the 'right setting' of a film studio to sing 'You Were Meant For Me'. Kelly seems a subtle actor by contrast (which he assuredly was not). Unfortunately, this means that we are not moved when Don eventually professes his love for Kathy at the end.

Singin' in the Rain's abiding popularity is probably due to its witty book by Adolph Green and Betty Comden as much as its wonderful tunes and dance numbers. Film critics also love the fact that it's got lots of in-jokes about films. However, it is not as cheesy as Bros somehow imagines it to be. At the end of the show, when the chorus reprise the title number and start tap dancing in raincoats, you put all such reservations aside. All in all, this is an enjoyable if flawed production.

Till 31 January