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Singin' in the rainA review of a musical at the Royal National Theatre in LondonCome on with the rain, I've a smile on my face! Singin' in the Rain Most people seem to remember only the dance routine by Gene Kelly from the original 1952 film 'Singing in the Rain', happily spoofed by Morecambe and Wise years later. However, this recreation on stage of the movie classic reminds us that there was a story line. It is about a leading man and leading lady of the 1920s' silent films and what happens with the advent of the talkies. The newspapers have publicised them as in love when he is in love with someone else, and the leading lady has a dreadful grating voice, which makes her totally unfit for the new audio innovation. It all comes to us as a timely reminder not to believe everything you see on the silver screen, or, indeed, on TV. Joie de vivre!To convey all this the production makes imaginative use of video projection and lots of mobile stage sets. But, of course, the story is actually not much more than a vehicle for some fabulous song-and-dance routines of both the ballet and tap varieties. Apart from the title song, other old greats such as You are my lucky star, You were meant for me, and Moses supposes grace the Olivier stage of the National Theatre. The choreography is dazzling and having had the Gene Kelly bit in the middle with real water pouring from above on to the stage, the show closes with the whole cast clad in plastic macs and umbrellas doing the routine in a magnificent exhibition of infectious joie de vivre. Human beings are capable of incredible expressions of joy and I left the theatre thinking that no merely human story can warrant the joy of which we have been created to be capable. The ever-blessed God is the true fountain of joy. The idea of singing in the rain is a wonderful metaphor for Christian faith in the midst of a fallen world. JEBJohn Benton© Evangelicals Now - February 2001 |