My daughter and I had the pleasure of attending the opening production of the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival season, Singin’ in the Rain. The performance was fabulous, and it is wonderful to see such talented actors here in Upstate NY.
The story is based on the classic movie starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, and is set in the 1920s. The story is about silent film stars Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont, and their struggle to transition to talking pictures. It turns out Lamont’s voice is awful, and not at all suitable for talking movies. So the studio finds fresh faced actress Kathy Selden to dub her voice, and of course romance develops between Lockwood and Selden.
Cody Walker stars as Don Lockwood, and he does an amazing job with the part. His dancing is outstanding, especially in the iconic Singin’ in the Rain number, which ends Act One. Kathy Selden is played by Kimberly Doreen Burns, and her voice was very full and rich. The two leads voices complemented each other incredibly well, which made the songs that they sang together some of the vocal highlights of the show.
The other stand out performers for me were Nancy Snow Carr as Lina Lamont and Bruce Warren as the movie director Roscoe Dexter. Carr was hilarious, and her (delibrately) shrieky voice is a wonder. In the second act she sang a song, What’s Wrong With Me?, and it was sung entirely in her shrill New York accent, and yet was still completely on key. Warren has great comedic timing, and the scene in which he tries to direct Lamont how to talk into a microphone was hilarious.
The staging was also excellent, and did involve actual rain all over the stage! The sets were not overly complicated but really captured the feel of the 1920s. We loved this production, and the cast received a well deserved standing ovation at the end.
Sadly the play is only around for a few more performances, as it ends its run on June 19th. But if you can’t make this one check out the rest of the season, because there are many more plays to come. The season at Merry Go Round Playhouse includes:
- Legally Blonde (June 26 – July 17)
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (July 24 – Aug. 14)
- Cats (Aug. 21 – Sept. 11)
- Hank Williams Lost Highway (Sept. 18 – Oct 5)
In addition the Finger Lakes Musical Theater Festival includes a number of other performances at smaller venues around the Auburn area. You can find the entire schedule and buy tickets on the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre website. Attending live theater is always fun and exciting, so make it part of your summer this year!
Disclosure: I received complimentary tickets in exchange for a review, all opinions are my own.
What a great mother-daughter night out! I love the theatre myself, and luckily, so does my 8 year old!
This sounds wonderful!
How fun!! I love the theater!
I’d love to see Legally Blonde. I love that movie!
I absolutely love this kind of theater!
What an awesome event to take your daughter to!
I remember going to the theater ages ago and seeing it rain and thinking how on earth can they do that without ruining everything lol. Sounds like a great show.