FORTVILLE — Like many high school theater departments, Mt. Vernon Drama’s spring production fell victim to COVID-19.
“It was going to be so good,” lamented drama director Lindsay Davis.
So when it came to selecting a fall production, “Singing in the Rain” was the perfect choice, the obvious choice.
“I have a mission with every show,” Davis said. “My goal with this show is to create joy and happiness in this heavy and disappointing time.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Davis chose well. A musical with songs such as “Gotta Dance,” “Make ‘Em Laugh” and the quintessential “Singing in the Rain” — tunes that are more than just toe-tappers — can’t help but send an audience out humming and smiling.
In a theater department with a history of spectacular special effects you may be surprised to learn that “Singing in the Rain” — with its iconic, well, singing in the rain scene — is not the most technically difficult show the young thespians have done.
With a show about the movie business, the production has included voiceovers and film clips, but Davis insists the rain is not that difficult to do.
Enter technical director Joy Mills. A 2011 Mt. Vernon High School graduate, Mills is in her third year with the department. Mills studied plans and designs found on the internet before designing her own system involving 100-gallon plastic tubs, pumps, a rain deck and an elaborate clean-up procedure.
The rain deck is a platform approximately two inches above the floor of the stage. The perimeter of the deck is slanted to channel the water into 16 troughs around the edge of the deck. On cue, the pumps in the tubs on each side of the stage shoot the water upward through vertical pipes to a horizontal pipe with holes drilled approximately every half inch, thus creating a wall of rain.
Rain falls on the actors at the end of act one and in the finale, allowing the 13 stage crew members to use intermission and time after end of the show to bring out five wet vacs, 20 dry mops and 50 towels for clean-up. See? It’s simple.
Backstage and in the booth, there is without a doubt the sense of crossed fingers and breath being held. With the approval of the Hancock County Health Department, Davis, Mills, the cast and crew are fully aware of the health concerns happening around them, but they are hopeful.
“I tell them come to school, come to rehearsal, go home,” Davis said, “especially now that we’re just days away. Don’t live in fear, but don’t be cavalier.”
After the cancellation of last spring’s production of “Aida,” Davis has high hopes for good audiences for her talented performers. At a recent rehearsal, Ben Dostalek, cast in the Donald O’Connor part of Cosmo, rehearsed — over and over again — a tricky move for even the best of dancers. His choreography includes a run up a slanted board before jumping backwards into a flip and landing on his feet. Madalyn Cottrell as Lina Lamont — with her platinum finger-curl wig and white mink coat — nailed Lamont’s squeaky voice during a sound check. And a video posted by Davis of Dostalek and Daimon Anderson (in Gene Kelly’s Don Lockwood role) shows the two high school students side-by-side with a video of Kelly and O’Connor doing the same choreography.
“A lot of the choreography is original from the movie. It’s hard tap-dancing, and it’s very fast,” Davis said. “I wish I could convey how hard that is to people who aren’t familiar with tap-dancing.”
In the wings, Cotrell, a senior in her seventh Mt. Vernon Theatre production, is confident.
“We’re feeling good,” she said. “We’re wearing masks and socially distancing, and we’re confident that if things stay that way, we’re going to pull the show off.”
Davis seconds that opinion: “I think they know we’re very fortunate that we’re able to do theater right now. And hopefully our audiences can come away with some happiness after such a dark season.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Mt Vernon High School Theatre Department presents "Singing in the Rain"
Nov. 19, 20, 21 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.
Mt. Vernon High School auditorium: 8112 N. County Road 200 W., Fortville
Pre-sale tickets only at: forms.gle/kPqzRewTz16xsvH78 for $12 plus $1.50 processing fee. No tickets will be sold at the door.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
