42ND STREET (The Shows Must Go On)*****

By Louise

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGsGmceTg9w

Available until: 6^th December 7pm

42^nd Street is a really good musical. It has some really good characters, some incredible dance routines and the plot is really good too. It’s not the most original plot, but it’s the sort of plot that will really appeal to a lot of theatre fans. Although it’s always really sad if a performer is ill or injured, there is something really special about seeing an understudy.

There have been at least two occasions when life has imitated art in a West End production of 42^nd Street. In 1984, the actress playing Peggy Sawyer and her understudy were both ill so a chorus member named Catherine Zeta-Jones filled in and was later cast in the role permanently.

Life imitated art in reverse with the production in this film. Steph Parry, who was covering the role of Dorothy Brock (and appears as a member of the ensemble in this video), was backstage when she got a call from the Novello Theatre, which is the home of Mamma Mia. The actress playing Donna (the lead role) was injured during the production and the understudies were ill so Ms Parry ran from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane to the Novello Theatre and took over, even though she’d played the role with different choreography and a slightly different script. A week later, it was announced that Ms Parry would take over the role of Dorothy in 42^nd Street. (I would have said she’s too young to play Dorothy, but she’s obviously very, very talented.)

The theatre world loved Ms Parry’s story (and I’m sure they’d have loved Ms Zeta-Jones’ story too if twitter had existed then and it’s not as though everyone forgot about her) which proves that Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, who wrote the book of 42^nd Street, knew that the 1933 film 42^nd Street would really appeal to theatre fans. The music and lyrics from the film (by Harry Warren and Al Dubin) are used in the stage musical and they are really wonderful too. There are so many songs I sang before I knew they were from 42^nd Street (I guessed the song ‘42^nd Street’ came from the musical, but then again, the song that begins ‘New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town’ doesn’t come from the musical Wonderful Town, it’s from On the Town, so you can’t always be 100% sure). Songs including ‘We’re in the Money’, ‘Lullaby of Broadway’, ‘About a Quarter to Nine’ and obviously the title song are just some of the brilliant songs in this musical.

A lot of the songs (though not all of them) are high-energy dance numbers and the choreography is really amazing to watch. Kelli Barclay is the associate choreographer, Simon Adkins is the resident choreographer and Randy Skinner produced some new choreography. The show is famous for its tap dancing, which is really incredible, but there is also ballet, jazz, ballroom… it is all absolutely beautiful to watch.

Douglas W. Schmidt has done really well at creating sets which look beautiful but which can be easily removed and I really like Dorothy’s upstairs dressing room too. Mark Bramble directs the production really skilfully so the action moves quickly with no breaks and Ross MacGibbon has directed it for screen really brilliantly. I bet everyone who has ever watched the play has wanted to see parts of the set in close-up and I love the shots from the ceiling when the dancers are laying down and using their arms and legs to create a sort of ripply flower shape. It is so clever and so beautiful.

I really liked the whole cast. Bonnie Langford is brilliant as Dorothy Brock. She is very good at being a diva, but there is something very loveable about her. Tom Lister is a very demanding and quite intimidating Julian Marsh, but he’s actually quite nice underneath it. He does have a very stressful job. Clare Halse is a very sweet Peggy and definitely as much a star as her character. Philip Bertioli is a flirtatious Billy. Pat isn’t the most decisive character, but men like that are really sweet and Matthew Goodgame gives him charm. Bruce Montague is a really lovely Abner, and Emma Caffrey sparkles as Anytime Annie.

There isn’t very much time to watch this, but I think I’d like to see it again.