Palace Theatre, Manchester notable shows to have played successful seasons at the Palace Theatre include, amongst others, the regional premiere of "Les Misérables" which ran for 13 months from 1992–93, regional premiere of "Miss Saigon" in 2001, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" in 2006 and "Mamma Mia!" over the 2006/07 Christmas season. Broadway musical "The Wedding Singer" had its UK premiere at the theatre in 2008 and in December 2008 to March 2009 the theatre hosted a season of the UK tour of "Mary Poppins", one of only six theatres in the country to accommodate the tour, both events further cementing the theatre's reputation
Musical theatre way for Kern's later work by showing that a musical could combine light, popular entertainment with continuity between its story and songs. Historian Gerald Bordman wrote: The theatre-going public needed escapist entertainment during the dark times of World War I, and they flocked to the theatre. The 1919 hit musical "Irene" ran for 670 performances, a Broadway record that held until 1938. The British theatre public supported far longer runs like that of "The Maid of the Mountains" (1,352 performances) and especially "Chu Chin Chow". Its run of 2,238 performances was more than twice as long as any previous musical,