A hot young director-choreographer, a groundbreakingly diverse trio of lead performers, and a fresh, from-the-ground-up production design breath new life into McCoy Rigby Entertainment’s Singin’ In The Rain at the La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts.

Golden Era Hollywood movie buffs know the story.

Monumental Pictures studio head R.F. Simpson (Peter Van Norden) informs 1920s movie stars Don Lockwood (Michael Starr) and Lina Lamont (Sara King) that the popular onscreen couple and their favorite director Roscoe Dexter (Jamie Torcellini) 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 (Kimberly Immanuel), whose angelic soprano gives Cosmo Brown (Brandon Burks), 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.

The first thing audiences may notice about director-choreographer Spencer Liff’s Singin’ In The Rain is its racially diverse trio of leads, deliberate casting choices that prove to be sensationally right for performers who might in years past not even have been considered for their roles.

In addition, though Liff does intentionally remind audiences of the MGM smash’s most memorable scenes and songs, the two-time Emmy nominee’s choreography proves as innovative as his casting choices while including a few audience-demanded tips of the hat to the film’s most iconic moments, e.g. the classic flip-over-the-sofa finale of “Good Morning.”

It also wouldn’t be Singin’ In The Rain without Don Lockwood singin’ and dancin’ to the iconic title song–and gettin’ soaked to the skin in the process, though you’ve probably never seen those raindrops keep fallin’ on every single square foot of the stage as they do here.

Finally, unlike the many Singin’ In The Rain revivals that have turned Act Two’s extended “Broadway Melody” sequence into a 42nd Street-style tap number, Liff serves up his take on the movie’s surreal, dark-side-of-New-York dream ballet before ending multi-segment production number with abundant flash and pizzazz.

The director-choreographer’s inspired lead-performer casting choices begin with a refreshingly 20something Don Lockwood that provides the charismatic rising Starr with the great-big leading man role that’s been his due since his UCLA graduation less than five years ago.

Burks gives us the scene-stealing song-and-dance showman we might have seen had Gregory Hines, Bill Robinson, or a Nicholas Brother been given the chance to play Cosmo, and never more so than in the show-stopping “Make ‘Em Laugh.”

As for Immanuel, not only is the New York-based triple threat given the opportunity to move beyond Asian-American type-casting, she invests Kathy Seldon with such vivacity and charm, it’s no wonder Don falls head over heels despite their prickly first encounter.

Fresh from the original cast of Broadway’s Beautiful, King ignites the stage as a Lina whose high-pitched screech of a voice is the kind only dogs can hear, her “Lina’s Lament” coming in a close second to “Broadway Melody” as an Act Two highlight.

Kelley Dorney makes glamorous gossip columnist Dora Bailey and “rrrrrounded tones” vocal coach Miss Dinsmore her fabulous own, Van Norden rivals Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner as studio head R. F. Simpson, Torcellini is a harried hoot as movie director Roscoe Dexter, and Adam Lendermon is hilarious as the Diction Coach assigned to teach Don and Cosmo about Moses’s “toeses.”

Candace J. Washington is a vampish treat as Zelda Zanders, the guaranteed adorable Bruce Merkle’s “Beautiful Girl” reveals gorgeous tenor pipes, and Brianne Wilson’s uncredited Girl In The Green Dress gives Cyd Charisse a run for her money.

Indeed about the thing not quite there in this otherwise revolutionary Singin’ In The Rain is the same degree of ensemble-player diversity as that of its leads, though one can hardly complain about the monumental talent displayed in production number after production number by Ethan Daniel Corbett (Sid Phillips), Justin Cowden (Rod), Maggie Darago (Lady In Waiting), solo dance standout Chaz Feuerstine, Veronica Gutierrez, Grant Hodges (Policeman), Lendermon, Merkle, Tayler Mettra, Shanon Mari Mills, Theresa Murray, Cheyenne Omani (Mary Margaret), associate choreographer/dance captain Clarice Ordaz (Olga Mara), Samuel Shea, DJ Smith, Rodrigo Varandas and Wilson, who match Broadway’s best every dance step of the way while singing up a storm under musical director Keith Harrison’s masterful baton.

Finally, while at least one L.A. musical theater biggie relies almost entirely on rented sets and costumes, McCoy Rigby’s reinvention of Singin’ In The Rain extends to its all-original production design, from scenic designer John Iacovelli’s soundstage-like set (completed by David Murakami’s scene-setting productions and Kevin Williams’ multitude of props), Shon LeBlanc’s stunning 1920s-meets-Marie Antoinette costumes) and EB Bohks matching hair, wig, and makeup designs, Steven Young’s dazzling lighting, and Julie Ferrin’s crystal-clear sound design mix.

Kingston Higgins, Kaine Koltoniuk, and Ron Rezac appear in black-and-white video sequences.

Cynthia Ferrer is associate director and Brent Crayon is associate musical director. Casting is by Julia Flores. Jill Gold is production stage manager and Laura Rin is assistant stage manager.

Whether you’re seeing Singin’ In The Rain live on stage for the first time or taking your umpteenth trip down Hollywood memory lane, Spencer Liff’s tribute to the MGM movie classic is as sensational as big-stage revivals get.

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

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard, La Mirada.
www.lamiradatheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
April 21, 2019
Photos: Austin Bauman
Curtain call photo: Lily Lim

Tags: Arthur Freed, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, Los Angeles Theater Review, McCoy Rigby Entertainment, Nacio Herb Brown