Singin' in the Rain - overview of past five weeks of rehearsals

Stage Theatre Society proudly presents Singin' in the Rain, based on the MGM film - 24th to the 27th June.

At the moment, we are about five weeks into the rehearsal process for the show and its definitely safe to say that we are ahead of schedule, with act 1 done already, apart from the film sequences.

I play Cosmo Brown, Monumental pictures' fun, wacky and energetic musical director - who later gets promoted to the head of the company's new music department when their films transfer from silent movies to talkies.

One of Cosmo's most iconic scenes in both the film and musical, and possibly one of his most challenging sections for me is his song 'Make em Laugh'. The purpose of the song is Cosmo trying to cheer up Don and giving him advice as to how to appeal to audiences. - a very Vaudeville type sketch. When we set it in rehearsals, i found it very challenging to portray this wackiness and fun charisma about the character who, during the song, is incredibly slapstick, carrying out very comedic routines and actions such as getting his foot stuck in a bucket, playing hit and miss with planks and mops carried by ensemble on stage, racing around the place, and just plain annoying people. I found it difficult to convey all these slapstick actions which demand a lot of energy and stamina, as well as sing, and focus on portraying my characterisation, as an actor, for the part; all in demand of the character.
Cosmo Brown is bestfriend to famous film actor Don Lockwood (played by Harry Francis), and throughout the show, the two are quite the pair. Harry and I have been working with eahother a lot, working on dances and songs that we share as duets or trios. We have also worked very in-depth on scenes and the relationship between the two characters, to strongley deliver this untouchable, comedic friendship and close brotherhood between the two.