Singin’ In The Rain, We’re Singin’ In The Rain

Theatre — 10 February 2012

There are musicals, and then there is Singin’ In The Rain, playing at The Palace Theatre until 29 September. It is one of the few shows that seem to appeal to even the least musical-oriented of people.

Whilst a silent film may be getting all the plaudits from critics at the moment, this is a show that focuses very much on the very opposite – the introduction of the talkie.

As is so often the case when trying to reproduce a classic, there was always a real danger that the show could have been doomed by virtue of comparison alone.

Fortunately for Londoners, this version is the very same production that previously won rave reviews throughout its sold-out run at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

The original 1952 Hollywood classic starred Gene Kelly as Don Lockwood, fictional movie star and king of silent cinema, with Debbie Reynolds as a minor bit-part actress struggling to forge a career for herself.

Their lives are changed irreversibly when the world’s first talkie, The Jazz Singer, hits the silver screen, instantly making silent flicks obsolete.

Faced with this crisis, Lockwood and company decide to transform their current production into a musical, which, of course, they do and along the way, provide the audience with some of the most memorable moments in the history of cinema.

The stage version certainly stays close enough to the original as makes no difference, giving the audience everything they came for and more.

If you end up with tickets to this show, be prepared to have a strong urge to sing and a desire to take up dancing. Or maybe that’s just us.

Singin’ In The Rain is running eight shows a week from Monday to Saturday with matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Tickets range between £16.25 and £87 and can be bought at the box office, online or by calling 0844 412 4656.