Bill Kenwright is a prolific producer and his latest production under the "Classic screen to stage" banner is the 1988 four times Oscar winning film Rain Man which starred Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise . It is a "road movie" in which two brothers discover themselves during a drive from Cincinnati to Las Vegas in their late father's 1949 Buick Roadmaster vintage car. It is quite ambitious to translate the story to the stage for a UK tour but writer Dan Gordon does a very good job.
The show opened at Windsor Theatre Royal with Mathew Horne in the Dustin Hoffman role of the autistic elder brother Raymond. It is a remarkable physical and emotional performance that dominates the stage from his first entrance and when ever he is on. He fully deserves the standing ovation at the end. Raymond's disabilities have meant he has been in a care home for much of his life but his brother discovers he has some remarkable abilities which make him endearing, funny and useful to Charlie. He can memorise a phone book and read two books at same time , one with each eye! He has great fun with an old Abbott and Costello routine, now often seen in pantomime, about "who is on first base and what's now on second base" which he resorts to under stress.
