Springtime skies may be cloudless in Claremont, but audiences will be Singin’ In The Rain through June 2nd at Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre’s terrific big-stage revival of Broadway’s 1985 take on the 1952 Gene Kelly-Donald O’Connor-Debbie Reynolds MGM classic.

Golden Era Hollywood movie buffs know the story.

 Monumental Pictures studio head R.F. Simpson (John Nisbit) informs 1920s movie stars Don Lockwood (Wesley Alfvin) and Lina Lamont (Krista Curry) that the onscreen couple will soon be making the transition from silent films to talkies, a piece of cake for vocally-blessed matinee idol Don but not such a breeze for Lina, cursed with the voice of a banshee crossed with Betty Boop.

 Enter pert-and-pretty aspiring thespian Kathy Seldon (Colette Peters), whose angelic soprano gives Cosmo Brown (Andrew J. Koslow), Don’s former vaudeville partner and lifelong best friend, a brilliant idea. Kathy should secretly overdub all of Lina’s songs and dialog.

Complications ensue.

 Singin’ In The Rain’s Broadway adaptation* lovingly replicates the MGM smash’s most memorable moments, from Don and Cosmo’s vaudevillian “Fit As A Fiddle,” to Kathy popping out of a birthday cake in “All I Do Is Dream Of You,” to the uber-romantic “You Stepped Out Of A Dream.”

 Other iconic musical numbers making the screen-to-stage transition include Cosmo’s “Make ‘Em Laugh,” which has Don’s second banana running into sofas and taking pratfalls galore, and “Good Morning,” the bouncy song-and-dance number which ends with its classic flip-over-the-sofa finale.

 And it wouldn’t be Singin’ In The Rain without Don Lockwood singin’ and dancin’ the iconic title song–and gettin’ soaked to the skin in the process. (Thank goodness the stage show has an intermission for Don to dry off!)

 In fact, just about the only time this Singin’ veers significantly from the movie original is in the Act Two showstopper “Broadway Melody” staged 42nd Street-style for no other reason than to give audiences a dozen or so taptastic dancers working their fleet-footed, precision-synced magic, just one of director-choreographer D.J. Gray’s show-stopping production numbers.

 As romantic lead Don, Alfvin proves himself the quintessential song-and-dance man, Koslow makes Cosmo an irrepressible delight, and L.A. musical theater treasure Peters adds the adorable Kathy to her lengthy resume.

 As for Curry, the Candlelight star may well be my favorite Lina ever, a delectably helium-voiced bubblehead with a voice so stratosphere-pitched, only dogs can hear its highest tones.

Nisbit scores as movie mogul Simpson as do Brandon Kallen as silent film director Roscoe Dexter and Jim Skousen as diction coach Edgar (of “Moses supposes his toeses are roses. But Moses supposes erroneously” fame).

 As for Singin’ In The Rain’s song-and-dance ensemble, Mia Davidson, Shira Jackman, dance captain Lieren King (Zelda Zanders), Josh Kurator, Jessi McPherson, Daniel J. Reyes, Jenna Minor, Alyssa Noto, Angela Rose Pierson (Dora, Dinsmore), Matthew Ryan, and Aaron Shaw (Rod) more than meet Broadway vet Gray’s choreographic challenges, with Reyes’s tenor in “Beautiful Girl ” earning added snaps under Douglas Austin’s pitch-perfect musical direction.

Mitch Gill’s scrim-heavy scenic design is more bus-and-truck than Broadway with one major exception, a Hollywood street set moved so far downstage that not only does Alfvin’s Don get drenched to the skin, front-table patrons may well feel a raindrop or two themselves.

 Costumes (provided by The Theatre Company and coordinated by Merrill Grady) are nostalgic 1950s treats and look even spiffier as lit by Jonathan Daroca and StreetLite LLC, Michon Gruber-Gonzales’ nifty wigs completing the production design mix.

Caleb Shiba is stage manager.

No matter how many times you’ve seen Singin’ In The Rain on stage or screen, Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre makes the 65-year-old classic feel fresh and new. Factor in some scrumptious cuisine and you’ve got the tastiest musical comedy treat in town.

*Music by Nacio Herb Brown, lyrics by Arthur Freed, and book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Candlelight Pavilion, 455 W. Foothill Blvd., Claremont.
www.candlelightpavilion.com

–Steven Stanley
April 29, 2018
Photos: Demetrios Katsantonis

Tags: Arthur Freed, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review, Nacio Herb Brown