Inland Valley Repertory Theatre bids a bittersweet farewell to its longtime Claremont home with A Grand Night For Singing, a tuneful collection of Rodgers & Hammerstein songs, from Broadway classics like “Something Wonderful,” “If I Loved You,” and “I’m In Love With A Wonderful Guy” to lesser known gems like “I Know It Can Happen Again.”

 A 1994 Best Musical Tony nominee, A Grand Night For Singing treats audiences to nearly three-dozen songs with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, strung together at IVRT as a two-act concert directed by Frank Minano and featuring a cast of seven IVRT regulars and newbies.

Several musical numbers feature gender flip-flops, as when Dani Bustamante and Jamie Snyder duet Cinderella’s “Stepsisters’ Lament,” or Dani solos “Maria,” a song usually performed by a cloisterful of Austrian nuns.

“Don’t Marry Me,” from Flower Drum Song, is given quartet treatment as is “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair,” performed in four-part harmony by Kristen Hamilton, Chelsea Johnson, Sandra Ochoa Rice, and Melissa Smith.

The statuesque Rice finds it hard to take Bustamante’s “Shall We Dance” seriously until he stands a head taller than her on a conveniently located chair, and the leggy triple threat gets to show off her dance/choreography chops opposite the cast’s three male members (completed by Patrick McMahon) in “It’s Me,” another song you’ve probably never heard unless by chance you’ve seen Me And Juliet.

Bustamante, Hamilton, Johnson, McMahon, Rice, Smith, and Snyder earn multiple rounds of applause each, with McMahon’s resonant baritone (in “The Surrey With The Fringe On The Top” and “This Nearly Was Mine”) and Smith’s crystal-clear soprano (in “If I Loved You” and “It Might As Well Be Spring”) making them the production’s vocal standouts.

Once again musical director Ronda Rubio adds live-orchestra* excitement to an IVRT production, which looks quite elegant indeed, with men’s tuxedos by Carducci Tuxedo.

Casting is by assistant director Hope Kaufman. Emily Moussa is stage manager.

Though it marks the end of an era for Inland Valley Repertory Theatre, A Grand Night For Singing culminates fifteen years at 455 W Foothill Blvd, Claremont, with nearly three dozen of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits performed to audience delight.

*David Catalan, Kevin Mills, Carlos Rivera, Rubio, Celia Chan Valerio, and Brad Vaughn

Inland Valley Repertory Theatre, 455 W. Foothill Blvd., Claremont.
www.IVRT.org

–Steven Stanley
March 2, 2022
Photos: DawnEllen Ferry

Tags: Inland Valley Repertory Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review, Rodgers & Hammerstein