On The Town - Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

I've seen a few matinee shows at Regent's Park, JSC, Crazy For You, Into The Woods, and they were all as wonderful as each other. I'm sure some productions would be even more special in the evening, Into The Woods springs to mind first and foremost, but it definitely doesn't take away from the quality of the show and I'm sure you will have an equally as brilliant a time in the afternoon as you would in the evening at On The Town!  

You'll be fine.  Lighting...schmighting, as I'm sure they don't say in New York.  One thing you do need to be aware of is the sun.  If it's a sunny day, and depending on your seat, it can get very, very hot.  When I went to a matinee, I sat in my 'proper' seat for the first half, but by the interval I had to admit defeat and move to a seat in the shade, despite complaining in another post about people who change seats!

Thoroughly enjoyed this. The music is probably one of my favourite scores, and there's some lovely songs that were cruelly omitted from the film. The atmosphere as it got dark was really quite magical. I find McOnie's choreography a little samey at times but the dream ballet in the second act and the Lonely Town sequence were just lovely. I've always liked Lizzy Connelly before but found her vocals in her first number a little weak, but otherwise she was fab. The new talents in this are brilliant, especially Miriam-Teak Lee as Claire. Can't believe she hasn't even graduated from drama school! Danny Mac was a lovely singer and terrific dancing from everyone. The plot's a bit thin, the script a bit hokey (and I always hated the fiancé character and his continued refrain) but it's a fantastic night out. Already plotting a return trip.

Thank u for the help.
Also, does anyone know if this theatre has a stage door? Would love to meet some of the cast!

This is a shame, I wonder who is indisposed? Such lovely weather this week for open air performance.
I saw the show on Monday and enjoyed it. The numerous set changes were a bit clunky but it's early days and hopefully that will get slicker. The dancing is glorious and I loved all the sailors, plus Claire and Hildy.
The comic characters let it down a bit, I know it all gets a bit cartoonesque, but they seeemed very unsubtle. Madame Dilly was particularly poor.
A solid production and I'm sure it will be popular. I could happily watch it again.

I suppose it will be apparent tonight who it is, then. Yesterday the understudy wasn't ready, I guess they've had an intense 48 hours!

Jacob Maynard playing Chip tonight.

It's also lovely to see Lizzy Connolly's Xanadu castmate, Samuel Edwards, as Ozzie, every bit as much the dopey loveable big lug that he was in Xanadu lol.

Just a lot of fun all round, with constant dance and humour.

It's very warm, though I'm ready in case it gets cold, as it's getting dark now, and white blossom is drifting down onto the stage like snow.

Danny Mac is a lovely thoughtful romantic presence to counterbalance the more comedic personas of his two fellow sailors.

So sorry to hear about Fred Haig. He was my favourite out of the three leads when I saw the show on Saturday. Thought he was excellent and had great comic timing. Hope he recovers soon

I see in the programme that he has a part in the National's forthcoming "Follies."

Fingers crossed it's a good part, and I look forward to seeing him then.

So I really loved this tonight. A vibrant light-hearted song and dance show that really lifted my spirits in these dark times.

Some spoilers follow. .

In the first half, the songs and comedy were the strength of the piece. In the second half, I loved the dance and Drew McOnie's choreography.

Storywise, the whole show is just an excuse for exuberance, a great night out watching people enjoy a great night out "on the town." I was struck about how feminist the piece is, how ahead of it's time it must have been with every woman knowing exactly what they want, and pursuing their desires regardless of what anybody else thinks.

And McOnie ensures that this production is additionally progressive, by featuring a beautiful gay dance liaison, as well as by (inadvertently) casting three mixed race couples. It's beautiful.

Performances were great across the board.

I like broad comedy, so Maggie Steed's lecherous cynical drunken Madame Dilly was a highlight, getting a good laugh out of me every time she made an appearance.

So too did I love Lizzy Connolly's uber-bolshy Hildy. Connolly is one of the best stage comediennes we have, and while this show doesn't give her the same opportunities to run riot that she had, in say, "Vanities," nonetheless she's a gem.

And her stage partner, the promoted understudy, Jacob Maynard, is simply wonderful, as good at reacting to her predations as he is at expressing an infectious and loving joie de vivre in every scene he's in. Only at the beginning was it evident that he was playing the role of Chip for the first time, as he struggled to synchronise his dance steps with his fellow sailors (and even that made me warm to him in the circumstances), but thereafter, you could have told me he'd been playing the role for months and I'd have believed you. He's charismatic, charming and loveable, a total find!

Miriam-Teak Lee, as Claire, the partner of Samuel Edward's Ozzie, hits the high notes with verve, and coupled with her fierce red outfit, has a real spark of electricity about her in her interactions with the always affable Edwards' Ozzie.

Indeed, towards the end of the piece, the foursome of Maynard, Edwards, Connolly and Lee, performing and dancing to the song "Some Other Time," was the peak moment of my night's enjoyment.

Danny Mac's Gabey, the lead, has an old fashioned romantic Gene Kelly charm about him that perfectly blended with the vivacious, youthful exuberance of Siena Kelly's Ivy.

And Mark Heenehan was superbly dry and funny as the cuckolded Judge.

Meanwhile, Maynard's replacement, former Billy Elliot, Leon Cooke, performed wonderfully in the ensemble, despite having been cast a mere 24 hours earlier. He will be adding more bits to his performance throughout the week, Sheader told us.

All in all, I had a tremendous forget-all-troubles entertaining night out, and that was wonderful.

4 and a half stars.

thank you for that. Do you know if cast members (Danny Mac etc) would come out of the stage door here to meet fans?