Adelaide Fringe. TB Arts. Odeon Theatre. 24 Feb 2017
Out and into the big league come the students of TB Arts with a great big musical production for the Fringe.
There’s a cast of thousands showing off their theatre skills in Singing in the Rain Jr at the Odeon and, with them, an audience which packs the theatre to the rafters long before the curtain comes up. Good seats in this General Admission house depend on early arrival. Be warned. Even 15 minutes before curtain, this ultra-punctual critic ended up in the lofty third-to-back row wherein audacious last-minute arrivals asked us to compromise the children's carefully-chosen sightlines by moving to fit them in.
As it was, one of the children still had trouble seeing, albeit she declared that she had seen sufficiently to enjoy the show and even make critical assessments, admiring the leads and ensemble work but noting “they need more bobby pins in the dancers’ hair”.
TB Arts uses the old alternating cast routine to give all their students a chance to shine and have the full production experience. Opening night was the “Gene Kelly Cast” which presented Gemma Caruana in the role of the ghastly silent movie star Lina Lamont whose vile voice brings sweet Kathy Seldon her big break to stardom by dubbing Lina behind the scenes. In a massive blonde wig, Caruana hams it up to the shrillest and most ear-splitting degree as awful Lena, playing it for laughs and getting them. Alongside her, another up-and-coming character actor is Josh Spiniello playing Cosmo, the good and vaudevillian funny offsider of heartthrob Don Lockwood. Spiniello mugs and hams all over the place. He is entirely appealing and his loony Make ‘Em Laugh performance is a treat. Oddly, compared to the other principals, he seems cruelly under-miked. Amelia Sanzo as Kathy is quite the opposite. Indeed the show’s sound needs quite a bit of tweaking. But, while over amplified on the opening night, Sanzo shows herself to be a very poised young performer with a good, strong singing voice. Opposite her in the Gene Kelly role of Don, Lachlan Zilm delivers matinee idol charm and braves some difficult tap routines.
Behind the scenes is a strong team under director, Michelle Davy. Some scene changes are a bit leisurely but the big numbers are nicely honed with choreography by Zak Vasiliou and Laura Brook and musical direction from Mitchell Smith. Costumes and lighting also are impressive but maybe not the big feature for which the audience waits, real rain falling for the title song.
It’s an underwhelming scene with just one line of water which is hard to see from the back. Zilm does his heroic tap dancing best to fill the stage.
The show shines on the big numbers, Broadway Melody particularly, and the massive chorus cast is ever effervescent.
The big high spot comes at the very end of the show when both stage and auditorium are filled with dancers under fairy-lit umbrellas giving a great big refrain of the title song. It’s a glorious, sparkling finale.
Samela Harris
Warning: The Fringe program gives this abridged show’s running time as 60 minutes but for whatever reason, TB has added an interval which brings the show down at 90 minutes.
When: 24 to 27 Feb
Where: Odeon Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
