June 19, 2017 – Published in the New Hamburg Independent
So it is with great pleasure that I toss out this tired, condescending custom to pronounce “Singin’ In The Rain,” without toadying, one of the 10 best Drayton Entertainment productions of all time.
And that’s without having seen the rest of them.
It’s that good, a rare confluence of casting, production and source material gelling into a theatrical tour de force that deserves a wider audience than the 400 people crammed into St. Jacob’s Country Playhouse on Thursday afternoon.
Set in 1927 Hollywood — and viewed through the prism of the 1952 movie on which it’s based — this rollicking, justly celebrated musical is a funny, nostalgic look back at an era that, in the ’50s, was viewed as quaint and familiar.