JUDE Kelly is just as excited about her revival of Singin' In The Rain as she was about the Millennium production that was such a splash hit at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds.

"Why do it again? It's two years since we did it at Leeds, and since then we've done it twice at the Royal National Theatre and it's won an Olivier Award. It seems it won't lie down," says Jude, the Playhouse artistic director, who has announced she will be leaving the Leeds theatre next autumn after 12 years there.

Singin' In The Rain is back in Leeds from mid-December to February 23 before undertaking a national tour, and the revival retains all the winning ingredients: Jude's multi-media direction with film screens to the fore; Stephen Mear's exuberant choreography and Mario Borza's water works, cascading clouds of rain for two renditions of the famous title song.

"We've not made many changes because it's already been given the seal of approval. Stephen and I have refined it over three productions, and for this revival we've been able to choose the cast and rehearsal process that best suits it," says Jude.

Darren Bennett, as movie idol Don Lockwood, Australian actress Jacqui Rae as his shrill New Yorker leading lady and Cheryl McAvoy as Kathy Selden, the chorus girl destined for stardom and romance, all excel in this dazzling but physically demanding musical.

This time, there has been none of the worries that went with the Playhouse launch of Singin' In The Rain two years ago, in particular in relation to the use of water - often a cause for concern in a theatre. "There was a lot nervousness going on last time at Leeds about working with water but I'd worked with Mario Borza in New York when I directed Patrick Stewart in Othello and we'd started that production with a big, ten-minute rainstorm, and that had worked," Jude recalls.

"And I don't think you can really do Singin' In The Rain without water, can you?" Absolutely right, Jude.

Singin' In The Rain's success in 1999-2000 at Leeds paved the way for Half A Sixpence last Christmas but that show was last well received. Why? "There aren't many British musicals and we wanted to see if we could do it well but it needed a few more good songs," says Jude. "Half A Sixpence is not flawless, whereas Singin' In The Rain is exactly that: you feel you're driving a Rolls Royce."

- Singin' In The Rain, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, until February 23. Box office: 0113 213 7700.