42nd Street at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Yes

It will sh*t on AAIP

A shame they are opening at the same time really

For that show

The ensemble is the star of this too - it does not rely on particular performers as AAIP appears to do.

One does not necessarily exclude the other though, it will be shows such as The Girls which will suffer. This is just such a good night out for the same money - it's what musical theatre is all about and nobody dies!

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Just had a look at the website and landed a ticket on 1st April for £15', maybe April Fools Day, though so the box office could say Ap............

Now got a feeling I am going to dig this show.

Wow I was not expecting to hear all of these raves .. first preview-itis or is it genuinely that wonderful? I was going to go in a few weeks but I'm going to have to go this week now!

But have they reconceived this show, or is it a bigger, shinier version of the original Broadway production. One of the best productions I have seen of this was up in Manchester not so long ago, with little set, and with the band on stage, but masses of invention and theatricality, and energy, and glorious dancing.

No they have not reconceived the show and it is all the better for that. Mark Bramble who co-wrote the book of the show and worked with Gower Champion the original choreographer directs the production and shows how it should be done. I suppose it is bigger and shinier. The cloths are simply superb - apparently painted in the workshop behind Drury Lane using the old paint frames used for painting large scenic back drops. Some of them are lit from behind and are completely stunning.

Where are the £15 tickets available?

Seetickets didn't when we booked. Though that was linked through the shows site.

As Wickedgrin says, the show has not been reconceived - it's a revival of the 2001 Broadway revival, staged by the same people, director Mark Bramble and choreographer Randy Skinner. And why would they change what works so amazingly well? Certainly from the very first moments of the overture when the conductor's podium elevated and conductor Jae Alexander turned to the house, arms outstretched, the wildly enthusiastic audience was revelling in the recognition factor. And when the final chords of Lullaby of Broadway segued into the sudden rhythms of 42nd Street and the curtain edged up to reveal those countless dancing feet, a roar went up that could only be interpreted as welcome back to tap dance heaven! It's the show we were hoping to see.

For a musical this big - a 36 member ensemble (24 ladies, 12 men) accompanied by a 19 piece orchestra - and this complex it was an astonishing first preview, flawless. Everything worked, the excitement never let up from those opening tapping feet right through to the huge post-bows production number (shades of recent discussions here) which brought down the house.

The cast is terrific. Clare Halse is an archetypal Peggy Sawyer, pretty and petite, full of energy, a fabulous dancer, well matched by Stuart Neal's Billy Lawlor. Christopher Howell and Jasna Ivir are funny and effective as the comedy duo, Maggie and Bert, and, if there were any doubts about Sheena Easton's Dorothy Brock, put them to rest - she's excellent, loudly tempermental but retaining sympathy and, with her appealing smoky voice, really selling her songs. A new song has been added for her in the first act, the only change in the show I could detect. It's the torchy "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", a solo number, and she sings it gorgeously.

But the standout for me is Tom Lister's Julian Marsh, by far the best I've seen in the role. He not only commands the stage and delivers his iconic lines - which, at this point, border on parody - with passion and conviction but he can sing! Thanks mainly to him the "Lullaby of Broadway" number in the second act totally stops the show, as it should. For once we have a Julian Marsh who deserves his final bow.

I just kept thinking how amazing it has been to have taken in, within a few days of each other, two such fabulous and exemplary dance shows - each the best of its kind - as An American in Paris and now 42nd Street. From the sublime to the sublime. Lucky London.

Oooo all these reviews have made me so excited about tomorrow night! Am I the only one it seems from the board going to see the show tomorrow night?