Casting the Gene Kelly role for "Singin' in the Rain" at the Ordway was easy. The directors chose a 20-year Broadway veteran who first played the part in 2005.

Casting Lina Lamont, the actress who is having a hard time with the transition from silent movies to talkies in the 1920s, was more challenging. The directors ended up with a "Rain" rookie but a Twin Cities veteran.

"Lina sounds horrible -- with a high, squeaky/squawky voice," said Austene Van, a Penumbra Theatre regular known for playing smart and sassy characters onstage and for choreographing and directing, as well. "But she gets to wear some gorgeous outfits. She looks fabulous."

Co-directors James Rocco and Jayme McDaniel said that it seemed natural to cast this African-American performer as Lamont.

"Lina Lamont is the archetype for dumb blondes in musicals," said Rocco, who first directed "Rain" 25 years ago and has staged it several times since. "When we saw her at the audition, I had a hunch that Austene would have much to say about this type of stereotypical character. Besides, she's got this incredible comic talent. Austene is going to be a revelation."

"Singin' in the Rain" features two actresses whose trajectories are crossing over a potential dance partner, the steady Don Lockwood (Michael Gruber). Kathy Selden (Christina Saffran Ashford) is a talented singer and dancer who just needs a chance to show her skills; Lamont is a fussy star from the soon-to-end silent film era.

Kelly, who played Lockwood in the landmark 1952 film of "Rain," remains a standard-bearer for generations of male singers, dancers and actors, including Gruber.

"As a dancer, he was athletic, masculine, smooth," said Gruber, a former college diver who has appeared on Broadway in "Cats," "Miss Saigon" and "A Chorus Line." "I am an athlete, as well, and when I was little, I looked around and wanted to be like him. Now I get to drop into his shoes."

"Rain" may be a warhorse staged by community theaters and high schools nationwide, but it still resonates in new ways today, said Rocco.

"This really is an intimate story about people finding expression for their talent and their feelings," he said.

Does that mean the show that opens Tuesday at the Ordway will skimp on the razzle-dazzle?

"No. We have chorus dancing and lots of tap," the director said. "And we pay tribute to Gene Kelly -- we quote his steps. But it's not like '42nd Street.' The dancing is like dialogue -- an expression of friendship and commitment. So it's a language, and we hope it speaks to everyone about the human experience of communing, of having friends and lovers, of being able to reach each other in the soul."