Singing In The Rain At Birmingham Hippodrome Review

Reviewed by Lindsay Burton

Last night, Singin’ In The Rain did not miss a single thing from what one would expect from theatre today. All the intrinsic fun and so much more. Having watched and loved the original film, I was super excited to experience the show and to introduce my daughter to it.

The most important part of the show was the songs, the iconic dancing, and the overriding sense of fun that makes Singin’ In The Rain one of the greatest musicals ever made. And what a success last night was! Don Lockwood (played here by Sam Lips) and dippy co-star Lina Lamont (Jenny Gaynor) are huge silent movie stars. The arrival of the talkies both threatens their star status, and gives Don and his new-found love Kathy Selden (Charlotte Gooch) the chance to shine. An absolutely delightful wing man, Cosmo (Ross McLaren), absolutely made the show for my daughter and I! With his stage presence and the sheer talent with which he made the character his own, McLaren creates many laugh out loud moments and absolutely steals the show for me with Lips in the Moses Supposes reprise. My other favourites were Good Morning Make ‘Em Laugh and then, of course, Singing in the Rain! We thoroughly enjoyed the rain and we’re very grateful that we did not sit on the first few rows in the audience!!! The ability to create rain inside a building just blew my eight year old daughters mind. It was pretty impressive for me too and I was so very tempted to jump on stage and join in dancing in the water. The clean up team did a smashing job of drying the stage during the interval and they had it ready for action within a few short minutes

Huge shout out to all vocalists but a huge shout out to Charlotte Gooch for her rendition of Would You. Singing with Sam Lips was beautiful and took me back to a time many years ago when I watched the original with my mom. And special mention to Jenny Gaynor….not being able to hear her true vocals, keeping that pitch for the entire duration of the show is a unique talent in itself!! Choreography by Andrew Wright, set and costume design by Simon Higlett both require immense recognition as the dances were flawless and the cast and stage looked amazing! What I was extremely aware of was the fun the entire cast seem to be having. Every single person on stage looked like they were having the time of their lives and I wanted to be on stage, having it with them!

Rating: This show is one for the whole family and with a runtime of 2 hours and 30 minutes, we rate it at 5/5.

Currently showing at Birmingham Hippodrome, tickets start from £28 and can be purchased from here.

Definitely a show that should not be missed, get your tickets as soon as you can.

One thing to be aware of is to make sure you have plenty of time when journeying to Birmingham. There are plenty of roadworks taking place and access to the Arcadian parking is tricky at the best of times.