On Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m., the Romance Theater hosted their monthly Throwback Thursday movie event featuring Singin’ in the Rain.
Singin’ in the Rain (1952) is a musical starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds.
According to IMDb, the story follows “A silent film star (who) falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.”
“On the third Thursday of every month, we show a film that people want to see on the big screen again,” said Jed Platt, the director of Rexburg Cultural Arts. “We get people that come in and say, ‘Oh, I remember seeing this particular film at the Romance.’ We thought this was a good one for April. We’ve had a lot of weather coming through, and it’s a really fun show.”
This year is the 70th anniversary of Singin’ in the Rain.
“It’s fun for this particular venue,” Platt said. “As you know, the premise of that movie is the transition into talking movies — and this theater experienced that. It went from a vaudeville theater to silent films to the talking era. So this movie house lived this story, so it’s really fun to bring the story.”
The event included a selfie station in the lobby with umbrellas and a tap dancer welcoming the patrons to the show. The dancer was Hazel Paul, a sophomore at Madison High School.
“The movie is all about tap dancing — it’s kind of like Broadway,” Paul said. “I love it; I was so excited. I grew up watching Singin’ in the Rain on VHS, and since then, I’ve started tap dancing, and so it’s extra exciting.”
Platt’s favorite part of these events is hearing people’s stories.
“I just love seeing people come with their families and reminisce movies that they loved as a child and now they want to share with their families — or even reliving that first date,” Platt said. “It’s fun for the people who come; they have a good time.”
More information can be found on the Rexburg Arts website.
