I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure about how well this performance would work – the 1952 classic Singin’ in the Rain in a concert performance? The stage version of it has been around for a while, but it was also known for its flashy set-up (sprinklers set off for rain in the famous sequence and so on), so a version without the bells and whistles certainly might feel like a let-down. This show also bills itself as an “exciting, fresh and never-before seen concert presentation”, albeit one that’s exclusive to Brisbane and playing for three days only, which of course means it’s tempting to wonder if that’s a good thing. Well, any fears were totally unfounded – the super-professional cast and the semi-staged production combined to make a performance that was supremely satisfying.

Bobby Fox, Angelique Cassimatis and Mark Hill in Singin’ in the Rain, Propsero Arts and QPAC, 2022. Photo © Darren Thomas

This was also the debut of Prospero Arts, a new production company that’s heavily Queensland-based. The Managing Director, Hayley Johnson, says that the idea is that Prospero Arts can “change the landscape of...