IT'S always good to be surprised - and an enormous surprise was what the audience at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre got with Singin' In the Rain.

Produced and directed by Clive Hailstone, a seasoned director of the Rowntree Youth Theatre for the past 45 years, the production was slick, stylish and, in many ways, virtually faultless.

A musical for the stage, I thought - will it be any good, will I like it, and will there be tiresome, long-winded singing and dancing routines?

Well, I take it all back. Hailstone had come up with a cracking version of the classic MGM film, following the careers of Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont, a couple of silent film actors who have to move into talking pictures when technology renders the silents obsolete.

The music was splendid - fast, upbeat and professional under the musical direction of Michael Thompson, and the choreography was superb - particularly the Make 'Em Laugh routine with Craig Barley as Cosmo Brown, which showed fantastic comic timing and skill on Barley's part.

Sarah Barker was great as Lina Lamont, a woman with the sort of voice and personality that would make a man want to join the Foreign Legion, and Scott Garnham played a great Don Lockwood.

Also notable was Pascha Turnbull as Miss Dinsmore, with her range of comical facial expressions.

The production was kept on the move by constantly changing scenery, some truly inventive lighting, a fantastic use of flawlessly integrated and comically accomplished film footage, "real" rain on stage during the Singin' In the Rain number and a great sense of timing from the cast.

Updated: 15:19 Thursday, June 12, 2003