New Theatre to Present SUMMER RAIN this Holiday Season

A light-hearted yet bittersweet story with delightful songs and lively dance numbers makes Summer Rain is the perfect way to end the year.

Christmas Eve, 1945. Harold Slocum, proprietor of Slocum's Travelling Family Tent Show, has a love of the horses, an intimate relationship with bookies and no money to pay his troupe.

After the performers walk out, the Slocum family finds itself in the drought-blighted NSW outback town of Turnaround Creek. Deciding to put on a show, they muster the enthusiasm of the townsfolk, despite the hostility shown by local publican Barry Doyle, who remembers the last time Harold was in town, 16 years previously.

Then the drought breaks and the Slocums are stranded. Over nine days of rain, dormant memories of an illicit affair resurface and emotions run high, new life is breathed into the town, love blossoms and a feeling of rejuvenation and optimism for the future after the long years of war, beings to take hold.

Nick Enright and Terence Clarke's charming musical celebrates the vaudeville troupes which travelled outback Australia in the 1930s and 40s and the tight-knit rural communities they entertained.

"Marvellously entertaining" Sydney Morning Herald

At the helm is Trent Kidd, making his directorial debut at New Theatre following stints as choreographer on Privates on Parade and Sweeney Todd. He has assembled a top-notch team of creatives including Musical Director Tim Cunniffe (We Will Rock You), set and costume designer Mason Browne (Ruthless: The Musical) and lighting designer Juz McGuire (Sugarland).

The cast ranges from 15yo Rebecca Burchett to 'old pros' such as Laurence Coy (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Man of La Mancha, High Society) and Green Room Award-winnerJacqui Rae Moloney (Anything Goes, Guys and Dolls, Hairspray). They're joined by WAAPA graduates David Hooley (Privates on Parade), Nat Jobe (Crazy For You), Tom Handley (Wicked); Anna Freeland, Michele Lansdown and Brett O'Neill from the cast of Squabbalogic's hit The Drowsy Chaperone; and returning to New Theatre, Sweeney Toddcast members Jaimie Leigh Johnson, Daisy Cousens and Steven Ritchie.