Review - 42nd Street (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)

No overture (regardless of how irresistibly brash and brassy it may be) can prepare audiences for the thrill of the opening number of 42nd Street. The curtain rises on rows and rows of bright eyed, fleet footed dancers, tapping in perfect synchronicity, as if their lives depend on it. It's so good it's practically overwhelming. And from that moment on, 42nd Street just keeps outdoing itself.

The cast of 42nd Street
Photo credit - Brinkhoff/Moegenburg

It's 1933 and powerful Broadway producer Julian Marsh is putting on a show. A musical comedy, in fact, named Pretty Lady. Young out of towner Peggy Sawyer is desperate to make it into the ensemble, but when she clashes with Pretty Lady's demanding leading lady Dorothy Brock, Peggy finds that a life on the stage may be much more challenging than she anticipated. 

The leading light of 42nd Street is undoubtedly Clare Halse, who radiates pure joy as aspiring chorine Peggy. From the moment she enters the stage, it's clear that her Peggy is a star on the rise, a bundle of energy and talent held together with a lucky scarf and a Broadway dream. Halse and Ashley Day, who charms as temperamental tenor Billy Lawlor, showcase what is probably the most awe inspiring, jaw dropping display of dance virtuosity on the West End right now. In fact, the whole ensemble glows with talent a precision, bringing choreographer Randy Skinner's work to life.

Bonnie Langford and Ashley Day in 42nd Street
Photo credit - Brinkhoff/Moegenburg

Additionally, veteran stage and screen star Bonnie Langford is every bit the superstar as Dorothy Brock. In a hilariously ironic stroke of casting genius, the infamously talented dancer plays a character who is cursed with two left feet, but she is still able to shine vocally, and exudes class in a number of gorgeous solos.

The whole production is haloed in glamour (Roger Kirk's ritzy costume design for showstopping sequences such as We're In The Money and the title number transform the cast into a shimmering ocean on stage) whilst maintaining a sense of ramshackle 1930s zeitgeist. 42nd Street does take place right after the Wall Street crash, after all. The dancers make so little that they have to share a teabag between 5 cups of hot water, and the initially unlikable and overbearingly commanding presence of Tom Lister, who barks rather ferociously as Julian Marsh, makes all the more sense when it becomes clear that Pretty Lady may be all that can save him from financial ruin.

The cast of 42nd Street
Photo credit - Brinkhoff/Moegenburg

Being based on a film from way back in 1933, 42nd Street is hardly the most modern musical in London, and some outdated lines and plot points do feel a little uncomfortable, but the musical is so over the top that it never seems malicious at all. 

There is no musical to compare to 42nd Street, in terms of scale, blinding glitz, and sheer joie de vivre. Come and meet those dancing feet at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane until January 2019! 

My Favourite Shows of 2017

Another year has come and gone, and with 2018 just around the corner, it's time for me to look back and reflect on what a great year 2017 has been. 

This year was a pretty exciting year for my blog. In June I was awarded Silver in the Kent Digital Awards, in the Entertainment Blog category, and then later in the year I was a finalist in the Favourite Blog category of the Theatre Community Awards. I'm forever amazed by the fact that people read my blog and value my opinions, and being nominated in two different awards in 2017 felt really lovely. 

In more personal news, I graduated from the University of Kent this year, with a degree in Drama and English & American Literature, and started a career in the arts, which was a dream come true. I moved to Stratford-upon-Avon for work, and so obviously I saw everything that the RSC had to offer during my time there, and visited loads of other great theatres in Warwickshire and the West Midlands too. I even wrote a few blog posts about the RSC's The Other Place, which can be found alongside some other brilliant blogs on the RSC Website. 

But enough about my personal life! I've seen some totally wonderful theatre this year and so with that in mind, here is a list of the 5 shows which had the biggest impact on me in 2017. 

5) LMTO's Honeymoon in Vegas

I thought long and hard about which show I should put at number 5 on my list. I've seen loads of great plays, musicals, ballets and operas this year, and really they all deserve to be shouted about. That being said, when I was looking back over the reviews I wrote in 2017, one kept jumping out at me, and that was my review of London Musical Theatre Orchestra's concert production of Honeymoon in Vegas. I have admired LMTO for a while now, and I really enjoy the way they take lesser known or lesser performed musicals, and bring them to life, even if it's only for a night or two. As a fan of Jason Robert Brown, I loved hearing the brilliant Honeymoon in Vegas score being brought to life by such a talented orchestra, and in the lead roles of Betsy and Jack, Samantha Barks and Arthur Darvill were a perfect pair. It seems like LMTO gets bigger and better every year, and I can't wait to see which musicals they will tackle next.  

4) Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour 

In 2017 no show surprised me more than this one. On the surface, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour was a riotous no holds barred adventure, following a bunch of unruly ELO spouting youngster, let loose on Edinburgh during a school choir competition. It certainly had its fair share of rather outrageous content, but at its core it was something much more profound. Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour was a raw and real portrayal of 6 very different teenage girls, all trying to navigate their way to adulthood in different ways. It earnestly explored some sensitive themes, such as teenage pregnancy and terminal illness, from a very realistic perspective, and it was cathartic to see such realistic depictions of young women on stage. 

3) Hamilton: An American Musical

The enormous hype which surrounded this show since it first opened in America was impossible to ignore, and therefore expectations were high when a London transfer was announced. Fans and sceptics alike wondered weather the fundamentally American story would resonate with audiences in Britain. Thankfully, the excitement which followed Hamilton wherever it went was more than warranted. I was struck by the extent to which Hamilton felt like a new frontier, worlds away from the usually great, but increasingly predictable mainstream musical theatre. The London production was impeccably cast, showcasing some of the most talented performers working today, and heightening the musical's already formidable songs and raps. It seems very likely that Hamilton will experience a long run on the West End, and rightly so! 

2) 42nd Street

For all the talk I talk about wanting to see fresh, groundbreaking theatre, for me very little compares to a big, glitzy musical. And this year no musical was glitzier than 42nd Street. With its gloriously bright and colourful design, and incredibly talented cast, whose megawatt smiles radiated from start to finish, 42nd Street was completely irresistible. It felt like a couple of hours of pure distraction from the outside world, and I left the theatre humming and tapping my toes. Sure, it's relatively safe, and quite old fashioned, with some rather outdated aspects, but it's also unapologetically fun, and isn't that exactly what we needed in 2017?

1) The Glass Menagerie 

I was completely bowled over by John Tiffany's production of The Glass Menagerie, which transferred to the West End after a run in Edinburgh during the EIF in 2016. Tennessee Williams' semi-autobiographical play offered a fascinating look into a tumultuous family trying to thrive in 1930s St Louis, Missouri. Kate O'Flynn gave a spectacular performance as the fragile young Laura Wingfield, opposite Brian J. Smith's charismatic Gentleman Caller. Not only was the story immensely touching and complex, but the production itself was gorgeously designed, and complemented the play's dreamlike quality. When it was over and the actors had left the stage, all I could do was shake my head in awe! Whilst The Glass Menagerie is certainly not a groundbreaking play by today's terms, Tiffany's production felt totally fresh and unpredictable, and made a huge impact on me. Even now, it's hard for me to put into words just how much I enjoyed The Glass Menagerie, which I ended up seeing 3 times in London. From the first time I saw it I knew it'd end up on my end of year list, and looking back on 2017 I can safely say that no show this year left an impression like this one did. 

Of course, a top 5 list is quite restrictive and although they didn't make my list I should probably mention a few more outstanding shows from 2017. I thought that Blanche McIntyre's production of Titus Andronicus at the RSC was really very emotional without being excessively gory, The Ferryman was a simmering play which bubbled over in the final act to horrific effect, and in contrast I really enjoyed the unabashedly silly The Wedding Singer which left me with a big grin on my face. 

There's no denying that 2017 has been a brilliant year for theatre, and I can't wait to see how 2018 compares. I'm particularly excited about the transfers of Strictly Ballroom, Fun Home and The King And I, all of which have been received really well elsewhere. No doubt loads of unexpectedly great pieces of theatre will crop up throughout the year too, and I'm really excited to see what's in store.

Review - 42nd Street (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)

'You're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!' 

That immortal quote has never rung truer than today, as the classic Broadway smash hit 42nd Street taps its way back into the hearts of London audiences. At a time when atypical musicals such as the outrageous The Book of Mormon, and the rap sensation that is Hamilton, are ruling in the hearts of musical theatre lovers, it's easy to envision a good old fashioned musical like 42nd Street missing the mark and being rejected in favour of more modern hits. Thankfully though, it seems as if there is room for both old and new in the West End, as 42nd Street wows from start to finish, and never feels anything but fresh and vibrant.

The cast of 42nd Street
photo credit - Brinkhoff & Moegenburg 

The plot is your standard rags to riches fairytale. When the out of town tryout of legendary theatre director Julian Marsh's next big hit Pretty Lady is halted by the indisposition of his demanding leading lady Dorothy Brock, young chorus girl Peggy Sawyer is thrust into the limelight. Luckily the story's formula is a winning one in the case of 42nd Street, which revels in showing every single thrill and spill. It's a show about show business, and the hyperdramatic will-she-won't-she element fits in perfectly with that, and doesn't seem stale or overplayed at all. Admittedly the musical does show its age elsewhere, such as in songs like Keep Young And Beautiful, which reminds women to 'keep young and beautiful if you want to be loved'. But 42nd Street has so much deliberate hokiness and self-awareness that it could be said that the retro sexist aspects are just a reflection of the era in which the musical is set. 

It's an utter joy to see 42nd Street thriving at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. It's hard to resist the megawatt smiles of the ensemble, currently the biggest on the West End, as they set the stage alight in popular numbers such as Lullaby Of Broadway and the titular Forty-Second Street. Special praise must also go to Stuart Neal as self professed temperamental tenor Billy Lawlor. He leads the gigantic ensemble in huge production numbers such as We're In The Money, a moment which is sure to delight even the most stoic audience members. However, amid all the pomp and circumstance, it is young star Clare Halse who truly steals the show as Peggy Sawyer. From the moment she stumbles onto stage unassumingly, only to reveal herself as a formidable hoofer, Peggy has her co-workers beguiled, and it doesn't take long for Halse to have the audience following suit. 

42nd Street is nothing less than showstopping in every sense. From the moment the curtain rises to reveal the 50 strong cast furiously tapping away to the opening routine, it's abundantly clear that no expense has been spared on this production. From the cast of first rate performers to the feast of spectacle which oozes from the sets and gorgeous costumes, this is what a big budget West End musical should aspire to be. It's a giant, glitzy, eye-popping production with enough energy to light up the whole of Theatreland.