With new music by Tim Finn, and lyrics by Finn and director Simon Phillips, Come Rain or
Come Shine is a romantic farce that pays homage to sing-along Broadway musical theatre
and the Great American Songbook canon.
In a humble share flat, humanities major Ray (Angus Grant) kneels before his record player to listen to his latest treasure, the 1959 Ray Charles version of 'Come Rain or Come Shine'. This Melbourne Theatre Company production of the same name, based on Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro’s short story, reveals the antonymous relationship of rain and sunshine through a love triangle and the tempo of time.
Ray swoons to the broody beauty of the music and the promise of love to come, as the arrival of vivacious economic student Emily (Gillian Cosgriff), a classmate of his housemate Charlie (Chris Ryan), is set to light up Ray’s life. Dressed in a rainbow of brightly coloured stripes, Emily shares his passion for the same Golden Age of early 20th-century music. Ray is smitten.
However, the rakish and charming Charlie prefers upbeat contemporary music like The Knack’s 'My Sharona'. Emily is mesmerised by his hip thrusting dance skills. After graduation, they marry and move away to officially start their adult life.
Thirty years later, as the trio enter middle age, Ray leaves a housemate, alcoholic girlfriend,
and low tech flat in a nightlife district in Spain, to visit the couple in Hotel Bayswater – their
minimalist, luxury home.
This transition from a cosy share flat to a sleek contemporary home is effortless – rooms and locations emerge with the grace and agility of a choreographed dance. The thrill of Dale Ferguson’s set design gliding across the stage enhances a change of tempo that finds the characters deftly crossing the chasm of time.
Charlie has become a whimpering mess, bemoaning his unfulfilled potential: “I’m mediocre, not a sloth or Steve Jobs”, he laments. Relegated to the spare room, he’s looking to Ray to be a remedy for his fractured marriage.
However Ray’s life of repetition and lack of direction, wasted hours in bars, and the RSI of his drinking arm, create a self-deprecating comedy that builds to a hilarious crescendo, where Ray's indecision manifests into rage and frustration. Ultimately, we discover that beyond the romance of his love for music, Ray is known as The Prince of Whine.
The fascinating connection between identity and musical tastes is perfectly portrayed by
each of the actors. The slow-paced way that Angus Grant as Ray wades through action
compared to the buoyant effervescence of Gillian Cosgriff as Emily, mirrors the two
different recordings of 'Come Rain or Come Shine' that feature during the performance.
Together, the characters symbolise the triangle – with Emily on top supporting the story,
and the two men, with their ding-dong lack of self-awareness, making most of the noise. It's a story for our times.