From Screen to Stage Singin' in the Rain

At Florida's Asolo Repertory Theatre

By: Jay Handelman - Nov 15, 2026

“Singin’ in the Rain” features, from left, Colin Bradbury as Cosmo Brown, Tyler Hanes as Don Lockwood and Sara Esty as Kathy Selden. Photos by Adrian Van Stee provided by Asolo Rep

Tyler Hanes takes on the Gene Kelly role of actor and dancer Don Lockwood.

Sara Esty as a young ingenue in “Singin’ in the Rain.”

Colin Bradbury sings “Make ‘Em Laugh.”

The 1952 film classic “Singin’ in the Rain,” a comical look at Hollywood’s awkward transition from silent movies to talkies, usually ranks near the top of the all-time best lists.

In 2007, the American Film Institute placed it fifth (up from 10 in 1998), while the British Film Institute ranked it 10th. It stands at 14 on the 2025 Rotten Tomatoes list of the top 300 films.

A stage version, adapted from the screenplay by Adolph Green and Betty Comden and featuring songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, has never quite matched the film’s success. It opened in London in 1983 and ran for just a year on Broadway before being presented by countless regional and community theaters.

The challenge for stage directors is how to recreate screen magic and specific dance routines that audiences have watched for decades. That’s part of what both scared and intrigued director and choreographer Josh Rhodes, who is staging a new production of the musical at Asolo Repertory Theatre.

“What a daunting thing,” he said after a recent rehearsal. “It’s funny, has beautiful music, is beautiful to look at and the dances are just absolutely iconic. But how do you become a 50-foot screen. How do you become something that is so beloved and everybody has watched a thousand times?

The answer is you can’t, so instead of dwelling on what the stage show isn’t, he focused on what it is and could be.

Over the years, Rhodes has successfully found a way to bring new focus to classic musicals including “The Sound of Music,” “Evita” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.” so that they seem new while honoring their origins.

With “Singin’ in the Rain,” he had to find a way to transform what he described as “one of the perfect movie musicals” into a true theater piece. Studying the script, he realized the stage musical is “a play about making movies. That’s been my take from the beginning.” Instead of taking audiences all over Hollywood, as was done in the film, the entire show will be set inside a film studio soundstage, with overhead gantries, or bridge-like frames, that hover above.

“We don’t have to make ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ the movie,” he said. “We can make the show about making movies.”

That means famous dance routines to such songs as “Good Morning” (in which the three film stars wind up overturning a sofa), “Make ‘Em Laugh” (a slapstick routine involving film star Donald O’Connor and dozens of painful props) or even the title song, can be approached in a new way, even as they nod to what audiences loved on film.

“I’m never trying to match the beauty of the film. To be honest, we would fail,” Rhodes said.

It also gives his cast more freedom to play their roles rather than try to approximate the performances of the film’s stars – Gene Kelly as romantic leading man Don Lockwood, Debbie Reynolds as the ingenue Kathy Selden, Donald O’Connor as the comic sidekick Cosmo Brown and Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont, Don’s frequent co-star who doesn’t quite have the voice for talking pictures.

Yes, Tyler Hanes, who plays Don, will be dancing in the rain for the title song as he works to help his studio transition to talking pictures.

“We have to deliver on the rain. That would be a weird ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ without it,” Rhodes said. “We have to deliver on the dance, but it doesn’t have to be the exact same dance. People do expect a big bunch of dancing. And the story has to be delivered.”

All of that is a relief to Hanes, the Broadway and regional theater veteran performer.

“Josh has such a distinct point of view, as you’ve seen here. It’s such a gift with him as our leader,” Hanes said. “And he’s made it clear that this is the play not the movie and finding ways to thread in different things people may want, but bringing a fresh take on it.”

During an interview a few days into rehearsals, Hanes was excited about the prospects of what Rhodes was going to create for the rain number. They have since begun working on the steps and his character, but Hanes said he wouldn’t get to practice in the actual rain until technical rehearsals just a few days before the official Nov. 21 opening night.

“I know the ideas of that number and the design behind it and I’m excited about it. I feel like it’s unlike any other production. I’m excited by the magic behind it. But how am I going to dance in the rain? How do they get the stage dry after that((?)) I won’t know until we get to tech. But it’s not worrisome. I trust Josh. I trust everybody here. I trust Asolo Rep to take care of everything. I’m more excited than scared.”

Hanes and Rhodes danced together in two Broadway shows, the short-lived “Urban Cowboy” and the more successful “The Boy From Oz,” starring Hugh Jackman as songwriter and performer Peter Allen. Hanes later went on to appear in revivals of “A Chorus Line,” “Hairspray” and “On the Town” and he played Rum Tum Tugger in a revival of “Cats.”

After “The Boy from Oz,” Rhodes began focusing on choreography and directing, working on such shows as “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” “The Drowsy Chaperone” and “Bright Star” before directing and choreographing a revival and national tour of “Monty Python’s Spamalot.”

Income from “Spamalot” has allowed him to focus more time on developing and shaping new musicals that have an eye on Broadway. They include “Regency Girls,” which had a tryout at the Old Globe Playhouse in San Diego last yeast and is waiting for an available Broadway theater. He’s also continuing to work on “All the Way Home,” the Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty-Frank Galati musical that was known as “Knoxville” when it had its world premiere at Asolo Rep in 2022. That show will be presented in a limited by the York Theatre next April.

They are among a half dozen projects he is working on simultaneously while putting “Singin’ in the Rain” together.

Hanes, who grew up in Jacksonville, is sharing the stage with Sara Esty as Kathy, Colin Bradbury as Cosmo and Ryah Nixon as Lina. Esty returns to Sarasota after performing last fall in “Come From Away” and starring as Polly in Asolo Rep’s 2023 production of “Crazy for You.”

In addition to dePoo (who previously designed “Murder on the Orient Express” and “The Sound of Music” at Asolo Rep and “The Great Gatsby” on Broadway), Rhodes is working with a design team that includes musical director Matthew R. Meckes, who led the onstage musician/actors in last season’s “Fiddler on the Roof,” costume designer Brian Hemesath (who also designed Asolo Rep’s “Guys and Dolls” and “Evita,”) and lighting designer Kenneth Posner (best known for Broadway’s “Wicked.” and “Hairspray.”

Rhodes began rehearsals by encouraging his cast to find their way into their characters. “Ryah has to find Lina Lamont, not the brilliant actress who originated it. Tyler has to play Don Lockwood the way he would. We open the door for their own interpretations so we’re not trying to be Donald O’Connor. Don’t we all want to be Donald O’Connor? But I’d be an idiot to try to make Colin do that. He has to find his thing.”

Hanes said that approach has given him an extreme freedom in playing Don Lockwood, a film star who feels trapped.

“Don has had a lot of success. He’s been part of the machine for a little bit and lost sight of who he was,” Hanes said. “He’s being reintroduced to that, once he meets Kathy Selden. He sees how the industry is changing and he’s searching for something more. He’s pushing himself as an artist through this journey moving from silent film to talkies. He’s getting back in touch with who he was when he started.”

And the performer feels a special connection to that aspect of his character.

“I’m always hungry to get to know myself better,” Hanes said. “ And hopefully every experience you have in the theater can be a wonderful or creative outlet. When you get the opportunity to go inward and reflect and push yourself, that’s exciting for me.”

“Singin’ in the Rain,” with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes, runs Nov. 18-Jan. 2 at Asolo Repertory Theatre, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $42-$86 for Nov. 18-20 previews, then $41-$104. asolorep.org; 941-351-8000

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