Arts Alive! podcast: freeFall Theatre’s ‘Glorious Feeling’

Today on Arts Alive!, please say hello to John T. Wolfe and Laura Guley, members of the cast of the new freeFall Theatre musical, What a Glorious Feeling!

Running through Oct. 4, the show by Jay Berkow is a behind-the-scenes look at the classic 1952 movie musical Singin’ in the Rain.

Things were in an uproar, backstage at MGM, when dancer, singer and actor Gene Kelly and his creative partner Stanley Donen co-directed and choreographed the feel-good film about Hollywood’s awkward transition from silents to “talkies” in the 1920s.

Kelly was the hotheaded, hard-driving Hollywood star, and Donen, who was his dancing equal, had been living in Kelly’s shadow long enough. Things come to a head in What a Glorious Feeling!

Photo: Thee Photo Ninja

In between song and dance numbers, that is. New York musical theater actor Wolfe plays Kelly, while Guley – a Florida native who also calls the Big Apple home – is Debbie Reynolds, the fresh-faced ingenue Kelly and Donen want for their movie.

With Justin Michael Lopez as Donen, and Caroline Lynch Desmarais playing Jeanne Coyne, the woman who tests the men’s friendship, What a Glorious Feeling! is a mile-a-minute showcase of tap dancing, Broadway hoofing and even a bit of ballet.

Berkow has clearly done his homework, as just about every fact, figure and fun detail in the show turns out to be true (this reporter looked it up). This, really, is the story of how Singin’ in the Rain got made.

This Arts Alive! interview was conducted, due to a technical snafu, via Zoom (presented is the audio only).

Click on the arrow to listen to the conversation.