Singin’ In The Rain, which has just completed a successful run at Chichester Festival Theatre, is to transfer to London’s Palace theatre on 4 February (press night 15 February) along with its principal cast including Adam Cooper and Scarlett Strallen.
Jonathan Church’s production premiered in Chichester in June to rave reviews, with Charles Spencer writing in the Daily Telegraph that “the show creates a buzz of pure pleasure”.
Based on the 1952 MGM film of the same name, which starred Gene Kelly, Singin’ In The Rain is set in Hollywood at the end of the silent movie era. Don Lockwood (Cooper) is a movie star with all the fame and adulation he could want, and a high profile romance with his co-star. But rumours abound of a new kind of film where the actors actually talk… and sing and dance. Hollywood is about to change forever.
The score, by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, features numbers including Make ‘Em Laugh, Moses Supposes and the title song.
Former Royal Ballet dancer Cooper has worked with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures company, creating the role of the Swan in Bourne’s all-male Swan Lake, which transferred to Broadway. His work in the West End includes Guys And Dolls at the Piccadilly theatre and The Wizard Of Oz at the Royal Festival Hall.
Strallen was last seen on the London stage in Passion at the Donmar Warehouse. Her credits also include the title role in Mary Poppins in the West End and on Broadway, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium and several productions at the Regent’s Park Open Air theatre.
They are joined by their Chichester co-stars Daniel Crossley (Anything Goes at the National Theatre, Hello, Dolly! at the Regent’s Park Open Air theatre) and Katherine Kingsley (Aspects Of Love at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Piaf and The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee at the Donmar Warehouse).
Singin’ In The Rain is choreographed by Andrew Wright, whose work includes By Jeeves for the Landor theatre, Almost Like Being In Love at the National Theatre and Chichester’s 2010 production of 42nd Street.
The production sets up home at the Palace theatre following the closure, this coming New Year’s Eve, of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical, which has occupied the Palace since March 2009.
CB