SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, Drury Lane Oakbrook. Two dimensions could barely contain the energy of MGM’s nearly flawless 1952 musical. The one thing it lacked was depth–which this popular 1985 screen-to-stage spin-off provides in the form of a third dimension.
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Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s witty screenplay, about Hollywood’s golden age, and the vintage Jazz Age standards by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed offer a trove of surefire gags and lush ballads, including “You Are My Lucky Star,” “(I Would) Would You,” and “All I Do Is Dream of You.” Youthful exuberance fuels the happy plot, about a singer, dancer, and actor who join forces to survive the industry’s bumpy transition from silent films to talkies. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s choreography effortlessly captures the protagonists’ carefree creativity: the nifty tap-dancing sequences in “Broadway Rhythm” and “Good Morning” embody the ingenuity and can-do energy of the technical innovation behind sound cinema.
