My first thought, as I walked into the entrance of the St James Theatre in Wellington, was, ‘Wow! All these umbrellas are gorgeous, but they wouldn’t last five minutes outdoors in Wellington for real!’.
Thankfully, there were no gusts blowing into the concourse of the St James Theatre for the performance of Singin’ in the Rain, showing till 26 April in Wellington. The atmosphere was warm and cheerful as I popped into the box office to collect my complimentary tickets, care of Lunchbox Productions AU_NZ.
I took my friend and neighbour as my ‘plus one’ and we were given seats on the front row of the dress circle. We had a wonderful view of the performance, as well as the ‘splash zone’ – the first three rows of the stalls (patrons were given ponchos, just in case the toe tapping dancing in the rain got too splashtastic!).
It was an amazing performance of singing, incredible dancing (lots of tap – so much so that my friend had to keep reminding me to stop tapping my feet so enthusiastically!), slick set changes (including the careful clean-up of 12,000 litres of water, as it rained down on the stage) and the glamour of Hollywood in the 1920’s.
My friend and I sat captivated throughout, marvelling at how technology has changed so much in less than one hundred years, as the story followed the changes to the film industry from silent movies to ‘talking’ movies.
We left the theatre with the music of the show in our ears and a plan to spend some of the wintery days ahead rugged up watching those classical musical movies of the good ‘ole days.
Singin’ in the Rain is a 1952 American musical comedy film directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds, and choreographed by Kelly and Donen. It offers a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood in the late ’20s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to “talkies.”
A fantastic production, that left me with the urge to dance, sing and twirl around in a frock with an umbrella at the next sign of rain! Although, in windy Wellington, I’d be more likely to do a ‘Mary Poppins’ impression with an umbrella in hand!
