LondonMusicalReview

42nd Street – Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London

Reviewer: Stephen Bates

Music: Harry Warren

Lyrics: Al Dublin

Book: Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble

Director: Jonathan Church

In the middle of America’s Great Depression in 1933, people needed cheering up and the Hollywood film 42nd Street, drawing from the mythology of Broadway, set out to fill that need. So what has changed in 90 years?

The film was adapted into a stage musical which first opened in New York in 1980 and at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1984, where it was revived in 2017. This latest revival, touring the United Kingdom, started life at the Curve Theatre, Leicester. It is scaled down somewhat from the spectacular 2017 production, but it still boasts more than enough hoofers and tappers to set the stage ablaze and choreographer Bill Deamer does excellent work in setting them on their way.

The book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble follows rehearsals for a new show, starting out in Philadelphia and moving to Broadway. Director Julian Marsh (Adan Garcia) is a hard taskmaster and he is lumbered with a fading star, Dorothy Brock, who has not had a hit for 10 years. Ruthie Henshall seems to relish spitting out Brock’s bitchy lines. The company is joined by the gifted ingénue, Peggy Sawyer, who clearly has the potential to step into the leading role and, guess what? She does.

Nicole-Lily Baisden faces a stiff challenge to live up to the hype in the script about Peggy’s talents, but she pulls it off with aplomb. Sub-plots pop up and fizzle out, with stalwarts such as Josefina Gabrielle and Les Dennis on hand to bolster the comedy when it flags (as it often does), and the entire company looks gorgeous in 1930s costumes, designed by Roberts Jones.

The songs, including standards such as I Only Have Eyes For You, We’re In the Money and Lullaby of Broadway, roll by and the brass section of Jennifer Whyte’s orchestra works overtime. However, many of these songs were written originally by Harry Warren and Al Dublin for other ventures and were already hits before being parachuted into the 1933 film. When the songs do not fit seamlessly into the action, this is probably the reason. The roots of modern jukebox musicals go deeper than perhaps we thought.

The staging of the musical numbers is exhilarating, but, when the orchestra goes quiet and the chorus lines drift into the wings 42nd Street goes into gridlock and there is little that director Jonathan Church, getting scant help from the book, can do to inject life into the show. Yes, the tale of a young girl being catapulted from obscurity to stardom is uplifting, but it is also corny and predictable, lacking sufficient substance to carry an entire musical by modern-day standards.

42nd Street can be summed up as a dozen or so showstoppers in search of a show, but, when those showstoppers are laid on with as much piled-up pizzazz as here, audiences can be forgiven for not noticing other shortcomings.

Runs until 2 July 2023

The Reviews Hub Score

Piled-up pizzazz

Show More
Photo of The Reviews Hub - London

The Reviews Hub - London

The Reviews Hub London is under the editorship of Richard Maguire. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.

Related Articles

Back to top button
The Reviews Hub