BWW Reviews: French Version of SINGING IN THE RAIN Is the Best of Filiatrault
Iconic. Classic. Legendary. The MGM movie musical SINGING IN THE RAIN was not going to be an easy task to adapt to a stage musical. After playing London, and a North American tour, only DENISE FILIATRAULT could take on such a monster....in French, by all means.
The story is simple: A Hollywood movie studio is going through hard times to go from silent to talking movie. Add a love story, great friendships, jealousy, humour, and a few splits, and you have it! Will all the splendour of Hollywood during the 20s, CHANTONS SOUS LA PLUIE takes us back and astonishes.
When it comes to casting, Filiatrault was right on. René Simard (CosMo Brown), 52 years old, impresses us once more. He sings and dances very well - no surprise there - but he has a few tricks up his sleeve, which makes us understand why she choose him in the first place. We are far from Quebec's darling Laura Secord Puddings... Renaud Paradis (Don Lockwood), for his part, is brilliant. He is a real star, and he prooves it once more with his multiple talents. Standing ovation for you, Mr Paradis! He is one of Quebec's few triple threats, a complete one. We can't get enough of the fantastic Pascale Desrochers (Lina Lamont); hilarious, perfect comedic timing, delicious! But the real star of this show is the ENSEMBLE and the choreography that they do so well. I have never seen such a numerous and strong cast in Quebec, EVER. Olivier Loubry and Maude St-Germain's choreographies are executed with energy and rigour. When the ensemble is on stage, we forget the rest.
Madame Filiatrault, I have not always been OK with your choices. But this time, you win my bow. This show puts forward your amazing talent for comedy, in which you excel. I can almost say this is your best musical, EVER. Just for Laughs can be glad to have you at their side. Please continue, Madame Filiatrault, to make us laugh, danse and sing, whatever the weather is.
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