BRUNSWICK (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- Got a favorite movie musical? Amanda loves “The Sound of Music.” So do I, but my favorite is “Singin’ in the Rain,” which I thought was magic from the time I first saw it in college. Back then I, like just about everyone in the audience, wanted to dance with the grace, the energy, the sheer infectious joy of Gene Kelly. The only thing that held me back was a complete and utter lack of talent.
Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick is now presenting the stage version of “Singin’ in the Rain,” which was inspired by the movie but is different. Actress Kate Fahrner landed the role of Kathy Selden, played by Debbie Reynolds in the film, and she knows people will be comparing her performance to Reynolds’. “I can’t worry about that. That does me no good,” Fahrner says. “You’ve just got to do what you do. Do what you love and have a blast doing it.”
That’s a sensible approach because there’s no point in trying to compete with performers who were working in a different medium, with a different script and cast and crew, in a different era. “We don’t talk about the film,” says director Marc Robin. “It’s just not brought up.”
Don’t get the wrong idea. The theatre gang at Brunswick reveres the movie version of “Singin’ in the Rain.” But Robin says there’s a reason to see the actors who are singing and dancing across the stage of Pickard Theater: “Because they’re giving it to you LIVE--and from their hearts.”