Jude Kelly and Stephen Mear's re-invention of Singin' In The Rain could not have been more successful. When it rains it pours, the saying goes, and to prove it, the West Yorkshire Playhouse production went on to West End success this year and has now been invited back to the Royal National Theatre this winter.

While the thoroughly American Singin' In The Rain delights London once more, artistic director Kelly and choreographer Mear's latest revival, the very English comedy Half A Sixpence, is running at the Playhouse in Leeds.

"I knew I was taking a risk with Singin' In The Rain. It was a labour of love, with a lot of work and lot of re-thinking and going back to Gene Kelly's original intentions, so it's wonderful when a risk works," says Jude.

However, musicals are notoriously unpredictable and expensive beasts to keep: the Elton John of the theatre world. "You can't plan to have a success, just as you don't plan to fall in love. With Half A Sixpence, you're in the dark, hoping it will appeal to the public as well as yourself," says Jude, analysing a musical which is based on Kipps, H G Wells's comic exploration of class distinction and education.

Half A Sixpence, with its story of a working-class boy's feelings of confusion over his sudden inheritance of a fortune, is forever associated with Tommy Steele's performance on screen and stage. "It's a hard piece for us to do, almost entirely because of Tommy Steele, and as it's set in Edwardian England it doesn't have the chutzpah of an American musical," says Jude. "But on the other hand it has a really good story, about learning life's lessons; it's a moral tale full of typically English issues, and it draws on traditions that we tend to play down in England - and we also happen to have 22 very skilled actors, and the excitement they bring is fantastic."

After the rain machine and water sculptures of last year's show, this year's design incorporates digital imaging by Mic Pool and 13 landscape works by Saltburn watercolour artist Len Tabner, who has been dubbed the "new Turner" by art critic Sister Wendy. Half A Sixpence is his first theatre commission. "I think he liked the quirkiness of the project," says Jude. "Like many people, he was surprised but then pleased when you put an idea to him."

* Half A Sixpence, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, running until January 20. Box office: 0113 213 7700.