42nd Street at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Why are some people surprised? I pointed out a couple of times how it wasn't likely to get across the board raves. Personally I never value individual reviews but, taken overall, you get the picture. Some ecstatic responses (mainly mirroring the subsection of people who post here), the flawed book and spectacle over substance knocking a star off In a number of other reviews (and, if pushed, I would also have given it four stars) and real qualms about how it takes a grittier source and then sweetens it too far, pushing it to an okay three stars in a couple of the major reviews.

It's the shallowness that, in the end, played badly for me. I loved the spectacle and there is an automatic visceral response to seeing/hearing a massed chorus that I loved. Having seen so many great play productions recently, however, I didn't engage my brain at all (apart from drifting off into musing on the thirties, fascism, Berkeley vs Riefenstahl etc.)

It should run, it has plenty of star ratings to boast of and good word of mouth.

I really fail to understand the critics' agenda in general. Why are they so grumpy? If people aren't enticed into the West End theatres will close and people (including them) will lose jobs.

From the bits I've read it seems that a couple of the critics questioned the decision to revive 42nd Street before they even left their houses. Should they be allowed to knock a star off for that? Surely anyone going knows it's from the time their granny lived and has some familiar old-style tunes and is one of the few (if only?) places you can see some serious tap dancing in London. It would appear that everyone, including the grumpy critics, would agree that those songs and those tap dances have been brought to the stage spectacularly - so what more should anyone want?

Miserable clods of earth.

One should always be suspicious of shows that get only rave reviews any nothing else 

The outcome is rarely good

Just because it ticks all the equality and diversity boxes

Critics fell over themselves to praise it 

I prefer 42nd Street to Hamilton

My own personal preference 

More lavish and that's what counts

Did you mean "morons"?

Three stars (The Guardian)

Oh.

Lunar tics.

I am just a humble ice cream and confectionery seller


Barely even a few M&Ms 

If I'm buying something on the internet and I've narrowed it down to two options, one with exclusively 5* reviews and one that has an overall average of 4.5*, I'm going to buy the latter. It *could* be that the first option genuinely is life-alteringly superb, but I don't want to make that assumption and end up with a shoddy product because the company hired some shills to talk it up. An overall 4.5* average isn't perfect, but having detractors means that overall the reviews are more likely to be genuine.

So putting aside the nonsense that "lavish" is what matters most when it comes to a musical, I otherwise agree with parsley. On this point, at least.

I don't think the reviews will make much difference either way. The folk who like this sort of thing will go regardless. And nothing would drag the rest of us.

I'm at Chorus Line tonight. Review I've seen has been positive