Hey everyone! I figured I’d talk about the movie and musical of Singin’ in the Rain! I first saw the musical last year in November, and watched the movie for the first time last Sunday! I honestly can’t believe I waited that long.

I love musicals, and while I’ve known that about myself for a long time, it’s not something I really acted upon until the past year and a half.

Since then I’ve been to a few theatres multiple times. The theatre I’ve been to the most is perhaps the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, IL. It’s a really nice and small theatre “in the round”. The first time I went there I was nervous it would be distracting or awkward being able to see other audience members and not having the actors facing me all the time but it’s now my favorite theatre. It makes me sad that I will only see one show there this year as I’m not that interested in most shows there this year but it’s still exciting.

So my sister was actually the one that bought the tickets for herself, my mom, and me. We all went out to the theatre and we were sitting in the second row behind some children which meant a clear view! Kids are short!!!

There were so many decorations around the stage making it look like a theatre almost and a huge Hollywood mural on one wall. I knew the basic story, that it was silent movie actors transitioning to the age of the “talkies”.

For the movie, by comparison, my sister had on VHS. It turns out she and my mom had watched together long ago and they forgot me! We watched it in our couchless game room, but the giant, old tv in there is the only tv still hooked up to the VHS player. Outdated technology still somehow survived in this house so woohoo!

I really loved both. The musical was so well done. The way the theatre handled the “film” portion of the production was that they made the lighting resemble a black and white film but had the actors change into black and white versions of the clothing they had previously been wearing. They did do the sound as recordings so when the sound for the movie was off it didn’t match the actor’s lips or anything. It was hilarious!

Oh and of course it rained on the stage! I had been expecting mist for the rain but it was a legit downpour! That was really exciting and we got to watch the stage being dried off during intermission.

For the movie the sound and editing was definitely outdated but pretty good considering how long ago the movie was made. The theatre had Cathy sitting on a bench when she meets Donny, and she was much less intentionally insulting in the stage version than the movie.

I think Cosmo was much funnier and energetic in the stage version but I liked Donny’s flashback scene more in the movie. I loved both versions of “You were meant for me” and “Moses Suposes”.

I think the reveal worked better in the movie as there was no curtain on stage but both versions of “Good Mornin'” were amazing. It was very similar and there was also a couch flip on the stage that was very terrifying to watch but so much fun!

The movie and theatre production were very similar to each other, which was great! One thing that was in the stage version and not the movie was the stage hands repeating all of the actors’ or managements’ demands. When Don asks for a tarantula you hear:

“A TARANTULA FOR MR. LOCKWOOD!”

“A TARANTULA FOR MR. LOCKWOOD!”

“A TARANTULA FOR MR. LOCKWOOD!”

I missed that part for sure! I thought Lina was a tad more outrageous onstage. I’m pretty sure Lina’s stage actress was the same actress that was Heidy in the How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the same theatre, and I had also found her funny in that production.

Seeing Debbie Reynolds in the movie as Cathy was nice as well. She was inspiring and I thought she was quite bold and daring in the movie. I loved her version of “Good Mornin'” and while watching it my mom suggested I sing and dance around the house.

Only if you let me try the couch flip mom!

 

I will absolutely see the movie again and I’m sure that I’ll see the stage production again! What’s your favorite musical to see on stage or perhaps in movie format? Let me know!

Thanks for reading!