Singing in the Rain

Thu, 8 Nov 2007, 11:21 am

DazzaB10 posts in thread

I had occasion to watch a preview of the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre's (MPAC) production of Singing in the Rain last night, and I must say that I was quite blown away by some of the achievements they have made for this show.

The show opens tonight (Thursday 8th November) and will be running for a limited season of 2 weekends. With tickets at only $30 for adults I feel the pricing is quite reasonable, and if you can get a group of 8 or more together you get a discount! (For a group of 20 they give you two free tickets!)

Technical Director Shane Podolski has made some HUGE achievements with this show. I was involved in Beauty and the Beast with MPAC earlier this year and felt that that was a sleek show with impressives techs. My jaw hit the floor watching some of the effects produced for Singing in the Rain.

The cast of 38 performers (many of which I believe are treading the boards for the first time) have worked extremely hard with Directorn Susan Vincent and Musical Director Lindsay Gould to give an energetic performance and breathe life once again into a well loved story. And choreographer Lee Lawrence has set the bar extremely high for what I believe is one of the most difficult shows where dance is concerned. She has clearly worked the long hours with this cast and has produced some spectacular results.

The show features Andrew Thompson as Don Lockwood, Natalie Edge as Kathy Seldon, Adam O'Connor-McMahon as Cosmo Brown and Janine Bramall as Lina Lamont. These four talented young people lead the ensemble in such great numbers as Broadway Melody and own the stage during their featured solos and duets. Of particular note is Fit as a Fiddle in which Thompson and O'Connor-McMahon show off their fancy footwork and Lucky Star in which Edge will fly you to the moon with her sweet, dulcet tones. The on-stage chemistry came through clear and strong between the four leads and Bramall is to be commended for her highly developed sense of comic timing.

Remember that Mandurah is really not all that far from Perth - the drive takes less than an hour on the freeway. It is not often you will get to see a piece of community theatre with such technical achievements. Mandurah Performing Arts Centre's Singing in the Rain is certain to take a page in the community theatre history books - don't miss out on seeing it for yourself.

SITR

Sun, 11 Nov 2007, 10:55 pm

Walter Plinge

Ok, I saw the matinee of singing this afternoon and I come away with mixed feeling, while I believe the set and tech was good, the dancing was good, the singing was ok (a few people I felt were a little weak in his aspects but certainly made upfor it in other ways) and the staging was good I just felt it lacked the usual slickness that MPAC productions usually have. Maybe it was just me but there were little things that could have been easily (?) fixed but would have made things a little more clean cut. For example, towards the end when the entrance to the theatre was flown in on the left hand side the fly bar could be really obviously seen. Now that seems really petty but it was little things like that I think can detract from the show. Another example was on the projections, the projection was bigger than the screen and this meant that during blackouts while video was playing there was green lines running over the backdrop. Again picky but hey its my own opinion. Now to some positives :) Characterisation was pretty good all around, Lina Lamont was magnificent as was Kathy Seldon and Cosmo had an amazing amount of energy which was great and it fit well with the comedy of his scenes. The sets were amazing, the special effects were great, and the costuming worked well. Lighting worked well most of the time, just again some minor things like followspots snapping on as if someone had forgot to turn it on at the beginning of the scene and suddenly realised, petty but hey thats me. Overall for a musical which is considered to be so much of a classic I think MPAC have done a good job and I wish the cast and crew well for the second half of the season.

Thread (10 posts)

Threaded Flat

Singing in the Rain— DazzaB8 Nov 2007

Opening Night— Walter Plinge9 Nov 2007
singing in the rain— Walter Plinge10 Nov 2007
SITR— Walter Plinge11 Nov 2007
- Follow Spot— Walter Plinge12 Nov 2007
hmmm— Walter Plinge12 Nov 2007
- Singin' In The Rain'— Walter Plinge16 Nov 2007
Lina Lamont— Walter Plinge16 Nov 2007
singin' in the rain— Walter Plinge16 Nov 2007
Closing Night— Walter Plinge19 Nov 2007

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