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Muny Review
Singin’ in the Rain Showers
Love & Laughter, But be
Prepared for Bursts of Thunder
by Pat Lindsey
The Muny has again given St. Louis audiences a monumental gift with its production of Singin’ in the Rain, which is making a big splash on the Forest Park stage this week. This show has sunshine and showers, mink coats and rain slickers, and some of the best singing and dancing you’ll find anywhere. It will tap dance into your heart and leave you humming its familiar songs for weeks–or maybe your lifetime.
Set in 1920s old Hollywood when silent movies were still in vogue, Monumental Pictures is forced to make the transition to “talkies” to keep up with the new movie sensation, The Jazz Singer. Not only has the studio decided to add sound, but it has also decided to turn a drama into a musical. The immediate obstacle the company must overcome is its starlet, Lina Lamont (Megan Sikora), whose voice sounds like fingernails scraping a chalkboard. The logical solution is to dub her voice with that of pretty Kathy Selden (Berklea Going), an aspiring actress who quickly captures the heart of the movie’s star, Don Lockwood (Corbin Bleu). But there’s always another problem….Lina thinks Don loves her, because that’s what the Hollywood gossips say, and she doesn’t want Kathy on the set. In spite of Lina’s protests, Don falls hopelessly in love with Kathy, romance between them blooms, and comedy ensues. It’s a delightful conundrum sprinkled with Muny magic that ends happily in a fabulous finale.
The casting is perfect. Corbin Bleu of High School Musical fame is an incredible singer and dancer. He competently takes on the former Gene Kelly role as the lovesick matinee idol and doesn’t miss a step of the famous movie choreography. His friend, Cosmo (Jeffrey Schecter), is the mastermind behind turning a drama into a musical and helps Don solve his romantic and professional dilemmas. Schecter will be fondly remembered as the man who saved A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum last summer when its star became incapacitated with allergies and Schecter had to act from a script for a few nights until he was able to memorize the role. He was an adorable phenomenon then and he is again as he impresses the audience with his singing and dancing and impeccable timing in this sidekick role.
Even though Berklea Going plays a newcomer to show business in Singin’ in the Rain, she is not a newcomer to The Muny. She actually grew up on that stage beginning as a Muny Kid, then growing into a Muny Teen, and now starring in a Muny production during its centennial year. Going (Kathy) seems right at home as she sings throughout the night to record Lina’s songs for the soundtrack. As screeching off-key Lina Lamont, Megan Sikora exhibits amazing talent in being able to sing as awful as she does. Her voice for this role is positively painful to the ears, and few people could conjure up such an unpleasant tone.
The wonderful thing about this show is that all of the characters are likable. Even when there’s conflict, the audience can’t help but empathize with each actor at one time or another. And when the cast sings the great songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, the audience is putty in their hands.
The real star of this show is the rain. I don’t know how The Muny does it, but the rain is as real as what the heavens released last week during The Wiz. The downpour comes just before intermission and it takes a huge crew to mop up all the puddles before Act II.
Singin’ in the Rain is as fresh as a spring shower, but beware of the thunder–thunderous applause, that is. See it before it ends on July 3.
For more information, call 314-534-1111 or go to muny.org.
