Singin' in the Rain Begins Performances at West End's Palace Theatre Feb. 4

By Mark Shenton
04 Feb 2012

Scarlett Strallen
Scarlett Strallen
Photo by Manuel Harlan

Jonathan Church's production of Singin' in the Rain, based on the celebrated 1952 MGM film of the same name, begins performances at the West End's Palace Theatre Feb. 4, prior to an official opening Feb. 15, after its hit summer run at Chichester Festival Theatre last year.

Adam Cooper, Daniel Crossley, Scarlett Strallen, Katherine Kingsley, Michael Brandon and Sandra Dickinson all reprise their starring roles from Chichester as Don Lockwood, Cosmo Brown, Kathy Seldon, Lina Lamont, RF Simpson and Dora Bailey/Miss Dinsmore, respectively.

The show, which features choreography by Andrew Wright and is designed by Simon Higlitt, is produced in the West End by Stage Entertainment UK and Chichester Festival Theatre.

The full cast also includes Brendan Cull, Flora Dawson, Jaye Juliette Elster, Peter Forbes, Gemma Fuller, Francis Haugen David Lucas, Scott Mobley, Ebony Molina, Gillian Parkhouse, Sherrie Pennington, Lisa Ritchie and Nancy Wei George.

This production was first seen at Chichester Festival Theatre in June 2011. Singin' in the Rain has previously been seen on the London stage in productions at the London Palladium (starring Tommy Steele) in 1983, the National's Olivier Theatre in 1999 (that transferred from the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds) and Sadler's Wells Theatre in 2004 (that transferred from the Leicester Haymarket, in a production which also starred Adam Cooper and was also choreographed by him).

The original screenplay and stage adaptation is by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, with songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. In Singin' in the Rain, Don Lockwood (Cooper) is a "silent-movie star with everything he could want - fame, adulation and even a well-publicized 'romance' with his co-star Lina Lamont (Kingsley). But Hollywood is about to change forever. There is rumour in the studio of a new kind of film, where the actors actually talk and sing and dance."

Producers Stage Entertainment are currently represented on Broadway by their transfer of Sister Act from the West End. Other producing credits in the West End include Hairspray, Fame, The Full Monty, Contact and Blue Man Group.

Chichester Festival Theatre, where Jonathan Church is also artistic director, has also transferred Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Top Girls to the West End from their last season, and are soon to transfer both Sweeney Todd and the double bill of South Downs and The Browning Version to the Adelphi and Harold Pinter Theatres, respectively.

To book tickets, which are on sale for performances through Sept. 29, 2012, contact the box office on 0844 412 4656, or visit www.singinintherain.co.uk for more details.