If you’ve never seen the movie musical, “Singin’ in the Rain,” where have you been living? Go out and rent it right now.

It’s a little less likely that you’ve seen a stage version of the beloved show, though it’s been done a number of times, including one choreographed by Twyla Tharp that ran on Broadway back in 1985 and another that toured the country. I saw that touring version when it splashed into the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis back in the late 1980s -- complete with on-stage raining, of course.

Now it’s being staged in St. Paul at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts by the center’s artistic director, James Rocco. Before he came to the Ordway, Rocco was a kind of journeyman “Singin’ in the Rain” director, and the latest production he’s put together, which opens June 16 -- is something of a reunion show.

“I’ve been doing it off and on for the last 20 years, including one version that went to Japan,” Rocco said during a recent telephone conversation. “I love doing it, and its allegory -- finding true love through performance -- has always resonated with me.”

Set in the late '20s
If you remember, “Singin’ in the Rain” is a show about show business, set in the late 1920s at the dawn of talking pictures. A silent screen couple (Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont, remember?) have been romantically linked on-screen and off (well, at least Lina sees it that way), but when they have to contend with the new talking, singing movie Lina’s atrocious accent and lack of singing skills has to be remedied.

An aspiring actress, Kathy Shelden, is brought in to dub Lina’s voice, but romance ensues.

In what is clearly part local, part reunion, Rocco has cast the two leads with performers who have worked with him in the same roles at various times in the last 20 years: Michael Gruber as Don and Christina Saffran as Kathy. The cast also includes names you’ll recognize: Tony Vierling, Austene Van, Michael Brindisi (who is taking a break as artistic director at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres) Steward Gregory; Claudia Wilkins and her real-life husband, Richard Ooms; Amanda Paulson and Zhauna Franks.

And, yes, it will rain -- about 500 gallons a night, according to a press release. And you’ll recognize the songs, many of them purloined from other movies for the original 1952 film: “Good Mornin,” “Make ‘Em Laugh” and, of course, the title number. (This link lacks music, but it shows Gene Kelly’s terrific, splashy dance.)

The show runs through June 28 at the Ordway.