When the sublime, sophisticated songsmith Cole Porter collaborated with Brits P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton on the enduring confection Anything Goes, the time was 1934, seven years after Show Boat demonstrated that musicals could take on weighty material. Porter and his writing team – which eventually included play doctors Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse – knew perfectly … [Read more...]
Three first-class principals drive Wick’s ‘Singin’ in the Rain’
Many shows have been adapted from popular movies, but few, if any, have been so slavishly copied as Singin’ in the Rain. Notice, for instance, that instead of a credit for the musical book, the program lists “Screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green,” an indication of how little the film’s script has been changed. And while that screenplay worked like gangbusters in … [Read more...]
Wick brings beloved ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ to the stage
In polls of moviegoers and film critics, 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain is invariably voted the best movie musical of all time. Similarly, the stage adaptation of the love story surrounding the early days of Hollywood talkies has been voted the show that Wick Theatre audiences most want to see. So in the spirit of giving them what they want – and in an effort to, as the film and … [Read more...]