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The Alhambra Dinner Theatre opened a bright ray of sunshine last weekend with Singin’ In The Rain, the 1985 Broadway musical based on the outstanding 1952 film of the same name, starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds. This brilliant musical has it all; hilarity, engaging performances, lively choreography and the catchiest tunes. It is Alhambra’s stimulus entertainment package that lives up to the definition: something that quickens action, feeling and thought.
Action! The tap dancing is possibly the best ever performed on this stage, and you’ll feel the urge to tap a toe or two. Feeling! Any time you can laugh until tears come into your eyes, you are going to feel sensational. Thought! The story takes the audience back into the world of Old Hollywood in the final days before silent movies and the start of the “talkies.” You will be dazzled by the out-of-this-world costumes of the 20s and 30s.
Director/Producer Tod Booth has cast three of the leading roles with dynamic new talents in their Alhambra debuts. They can do it all: sing, dance, act and look beautiful. Remember the names, Todd Michael Cook (playing the Kelly part, Don Lockwood), Katherine Weatherford (as Kathy, the Debbie Reynolds role) and Jeremy Dumont (as Cosmo, the Donald O’Conner role). These young performers have the stage presence of long time veterans and they truly sparkle in this production.
The final leading role, Lina Lamont, the ditzy silent movie star with the shrill voice, is done to absolute perfection by Alhambra favorite Kelly Atkins. The scene where she makes her first talking movie and has to use a microphone is an absolute laugh riot that will have you rolling in the aisles. Earlye Rhodes, whose acting has mainly been in the yearly Christmas Carole, is fantastically funny as Roscoe Dexter, the German film director.
True to the show’s film origins, Booth has movie screens on either side of the stage with clips of some early silent swashbuckling films.
A show like this has to have glamorous girls, and Jessica Booth, Allison David, Katy Jacobson and Rebecca Maderski meet all the requirements with some spiffy dancing and singing in those wonderful costumes (designed by Camala Pitts and Dorinda Grogan from the Costume Crew).
