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The Courier Mail - 30th January 2002 - Pia's Big Singin' Break
The Courier Mail - 2nd February 2002 - Singin' Ends The Theatrical Drought
Yahoo! News - 13th June
2002 - Singin' in the Rain looks to make a splash in Asia
The Courier Mail - 30th January 2002
Pia's big singin' break
ONE person's misfortune can bring
another an opportunity of a lifetime – and that is just what happened to Pia
Morley. The 21-year-old will take to the stage on Friday when Singin' in the
Rain sweeps in for its Brisbane premiere.
Morley will make the transition from understudy.
She will play the key role of Kathy Seldon in the David Atkins stage adaptation of the much-loved Metro Goldwyn Mayer musical.
Her big chance comes at the expense of Rachel Beck, who quite literally broke a leg.
The actor was driving through Melbourne's rain on Friday last week when she had an accident, sustaining a knee injury.
The Courier Mail - 2nd February 2002
Singin' Ends The Theatrical Drought
HALLELUJAH! The long
summer theatrical drought has ended at the Performing Arts Centre, with this
joyous production of Singin' in the Rain based on the Gene Kelly-Stanley Donen
movie musical splashing down this week for an extended season.
The MGM musical written by Comden and Green is regarded as one of the greatest musical films of the 20th century.
The stage musical, featuring Todd McKenney, Wayne Scott Kermond, Pia Morley (proving a genuine trouper when she had to stand in for injured Rachael Beck for the Brisbane opening), and Jackie Love, arrives as the happiest musical of the new century.
David Atkins and his team (including musical director Conrad Helfrich and associate director/choreographer Drew Anthony) have faithfully recreated the movie musical as a stand-alone stage show, complete with the movie's famous song and dance in the rain and the extended Broadway Melody Ballet, featuring McKenney and the vampish Michelle Hopper.
The wizardry Atkins showed with his contribution to the unforgettable Sydney Olympic Games ceremonies is again evident here.
While the production uses the original choreography created by Kelly and Donen, Atkins makes his own contribution with the energy-sapping number he's devised as a post-finale surprise that joyously cap off a thoroughly unforgettable experience.
The cast altogether are working with a lot more pep than in the show I saw in Melbourne last month.
The unfortunate injury to Ms Beck has given it the atmosphere of a first-run, as the show opened in Sydney last May, and had a Melbourne season before moving north.
McKenney's performance of the title number perfectly mirrors the classic Kelly routine, but letting McKenney's personality (glowing after his Boy from Oz triumph) shine through.
The romance between Don Lockwood (McKenney) and ingenue Kathy Selden (Morley, an attractive performer with a pleasing voice and easy dancing style) is believable, while Kermond (Cosmo Brown) and Love (the grating Lina Lamont) win over the audience with their antics.
Love demonstrates previously untapped comic potential, with split-second timing.
Jockey-sized Kermond shows his acrobatic flair with the Make 'Em Laugh number, and he and McKenney make an enviable team in the Moses Supposes number.
The story traces the evolution of talkies in Hollywood and the film clips which demonstrate the problems of adjusting to the new medium are hilariously recreated on stage.
Musical theatre enthusiasts will wish Singin' in the Rain could stay in Queensland forever, whatever the weather.
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
Based on the MGM film.
Lyric theatre, QPAC.
Produced by David Atkins Enterprises and IMG.
Director, choreographer, and producer David Atkins.
Musical supervisor Max Lambert.
Yahoo! News - 13th June 2002
Singin' in the Rain looks to make a splash in Asia
HONG
KONG (Reuters) - Hit musical "Singin' in the Rain" is hoping to make
a big splash with audiences when it begins its Asian tour in October, dumping
5,000 litres of water on the stage for each performance.
The show, based on the much-loved 1952 Hollywood classic starring Gene
Kelly, recreates one of the most famous scenes in movie history, in which a
lovestruck actor splashes about wildly, singing and dancing in the rain.
Cast members say they enjoy their daily soaking.
I just absolutely adore it because one of my favourite things as a child was
when it rained to go out and splash and get all muddy with my friends and
everything," said Dale Pengelly, who takes the Gene Kelly role as actor
Don Lockwood.
"We have to heat it so it is not as cold, because we don't want to get
our actors and actresses having flu every other day," said James Cundall,
director of IMG Arts & Entertainment for Australia, New Zealand and
Asia.
IMG is co-producing the show, which follows a company of silent film actors
and actresses as they struggle to adapt to the new world of talking pictures.
"The last line of the song is 'dancing and singing in the rain'," Pengelly
said.
"If I slipped over, which only happened twice -- with any luck you
might be treated to another one -- I'd change it to 'dancing and slipping in
the rain'."
Pia Morley, who plays the female lead, has also had at least one performance
that didn't quite go to plan.
"At the very end of the show, we all come out in our raincoats and we
all get wet. I normally wear a rain hat. But this day, my hat fell off and my
wig got all wet and was hanging in front of my eyes and I had make-up dripping
all down my face, I looked like a drowned rat."
The show is directed and choreographed by David Atkins, an Australian
choreographer who was artistic director and producer for the Sydney 2000
Olympics' opening and closing ceremonies.
"It's enormous... just a little bit bigger than 'Miss Saigon' which is one of the biggest shows in the world," Cundall said. Singin' in the Rain" played to more than 650,000 people over 15 months and 399 performances in Australia. It will go on to Singapore in November after playing in Hong Kong for about a month, with ticket prices starting at HK$295 (US$38).