A Cast of Triple Threats Tackles Singin' in the Rain

With its premiere in October 1927, The Jazz Singer forever changed the sound of cinema. Once audiences got their first taste of the “talkies,” the silent era met with a swift demise, as finger-curled beauties and their mustachioed male counterparts could no longer capture the public’s imagination with the bat of an eyelash or the curl of a lip.

Here in Mill Valley, that transition played out when the upstart new opened on Throckmorton Avenue in February 1929, delivering on its promise of bringing the “talking device” to movie-hungry Marin-ites. In the process, it put the final nail in the coffin of the town’s only other theatre, , which played mainly silent movies.

Mill Valley’s Hub is vibrant once again, reincarnated as . And this weekend, the Throck’s will revisit the tumultuous turnover from silent film to the talkies when they mount the classic musical Singin’ in the Rain.

Directed by MYP’s Youth Programs Director Adam Saville with musical direction by Nora Thomas, the show features a cast of accomplished actor-singer-dancers and highlights the choreography of June Cooperman and Cece Bechelli (of ). Saville calls their work “amazing."

Indeed, if ever a production called for a cast of triple-threats, Singin’ in the Rain is it. A fast-paced comedic romp about a chipmunk-voiced silent film star and the ingenue secretly hired as her voice-double, the show is full of highly physical song-and-dance routines that move at a whirlwind clip. Anyone who’s seen Stanley Donen’s 1952 film classic knows that even Gene Kelly and Don O’Connor look exhausted at the end of each number.

Ian Johnston, a 17-year old junior at , plays Don Lockwood, the role made famous by Gene Kelly.

Johnston acknowledges the production is a challenging one, saying, “This play is extremely heavy in singing, acting and dancing and all three main characters have at least one number that is energy-sapping. Cosmo (Aaron Sholin) has probably the hardest number in the whole play, 'Make 'Em Laugh.'” 

Johnston’s on-stage leading lady, Kathy Selden, is played by 17-year old Redwood High senior Madeline Hooper. She agrees with Johnston about the physical challenges of such a demanding show: “The hardest part about [it] is how involved the show is with all three elements of musical theater: acting, singing, and dancing. We are really lucky to have an extremely talented cast, but still the transitions from scene to song to dance and back again have been hard to master.”

Despite its being way before their time, both teens were not only familiar with the film, but consider themselves huge fans. Hooper says, “Singin' in the Rain was one of my favorite movies when I was younger. I might have watched it every other weekend or so for a year or two.”

Johnston, who studied jazz and tap at Happy Feet for six years, says “The reason I chose to tap was because of Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain… I believe [it] was the first musical I became acquainted with.”

Johnston’s appetite for performance was sparked by an eighth grade performance of Bye Bye Birdie at, in which he played Albert Peterson. He’s had the acting bug ever since, and will attend A.C.T.’s acting program for high school students this summer, and take part in Tam’s CTE Theatre program next school year. He plans to major in theatre when he heads off to college in fall 2012.

Hooper is also an alum of A.C.T.’s Youth Conservatory summer program for musical theatre, and her path will lead her to Northwestern University this fall, where she plans to minor in dance. Wherever her studies may lead, she says, “I don't see any time during which performing won't be a part of my life.”

Asked to choose a favorite number in this production, both performers single out Good Morning, a showstopper that’s been known not only to bring a house down, but also to lodge itself into audience’s brains long after the lights go dark.

But Hooper also holds a special place in her heart for the show’s final, title number, sung by the entire cast. “There's something special… when an entire cast gets together to sing a song. So many voices and bodies and hearts together -- that kind of energy and enthusiasm really can't be replicated.”

Indeed, when the curtain rises tonight on MYP’s Singin’ in the Rain, it’s safe to say that any old wounds from the war between the silents and the talkies will be healed.

The 411: Singin’ in the Rain runs Friday May 27 and Friday June 3 at 7:30pm; Saturdays and Sundays May 28-29 and June 4-5 at 2:00pm.Tickets are $18 General Admission, $14 Students $30 Reserved Seating. Buy tickets here or call 415.383.9600 for more information.