42nd Street at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Same for me

Only twice for me too but will definitely be returning soon.

Twice for me - hoping to increase that once I'm back at uni and can make it to London more easily

Oh dear, 7 for me so far, was hoping more people would have seen it that many times! However some of my visits have been to see specific people in roles, once for Norman playing Julian, once for CJ playing Dorothy, once for Gabrielle playing Peggy and a couple of times for Philip playing Billy, so I guess that's how it all adds up!

4 with 5th booked!

I hope the theatre accepts latecomers! The trains have been awful, only just arriving at Waterloo! Wish me luck getting in...

Did you see when one of the girls mirrors broke during one of the numbers? It just fell on the floor and it really was a dangerous hazard! I thought everyone dealt with it amazingly! It must have travelled across the entire stage because as soon as a dancer came near it they managed to kick it away - incorporating it into the routine almost haha. Props to the main guy who attempted to throw it aside whilst singing!

While Googling for clips of the current production I stumbled upon this. Apologies if the link to this has already been posted as 104 pages is too many to check through. For those who want to compare, here is about 15 minutes of the 1933 film:

For those fans of 42nd Street keeping score, here's the result for last night:

Covers on: Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson (as Peggy Sawyer) and Greg Bernstein (as Bert Barry)
Conductor: Andy Massey, who did a good job but whose smile is not quite as winning as that of Jae Alexander.

Seat: Never sit in B26, even at £15 because the heads of the people in A23 & A24 seriously block one's view of the stage. Fortunately the young man in A24 picked up his back-pack at interval and told me he was leaving so I moved to A24 from where the view was perfect and my knees now recognise how it feels to sit there so my evening was salvaged.

Balcony not open and empty seats at the back of the stalls. I spoke to a lady at the Reception Desk about this and she assured me that the producers were satisfied with the level of attendance because it is such a big theatre to fill, but I was not entirely convinced by what she said.

Three small things that need changing to make the show perfect:

1. Maggie must tone down that ridiculous jazzy version of the verse of Shadow Waltz that she does to demonstrate the song to Dorothy Brock. It gets a cheap laugh but makes no sense musically.

2. The tango dancers who appear during Boulevard of Broken Dreams must be allowed longer on stage, even while Dorothy Brock is singing if necessary. They add a lot to the staging of the number but are gone in a flash (of thigh)!

3. Bert must revert to the original words in Keep Young and Beautiful to replace 'permanent wave' with 'Marcel Wave' – a contemporary reference that adds period charm to the lyric. All the other songs retain their contemporary references to the Depression years of the 1930s so why remove Marcel Wave when 'permanent wave' does not even scan properly?

Otherwise it was all in great shape.

Special thought last night during my sixth visit. The songs of Dubin and Warren all have wonderfully powerful rhythms, energy and forward movement which make them irresistible for dancing, especially tap. No wonder Busby Berkeley was inspired to create those amazing routines in the original films and Gower Champion made such a great job of bringing 42nd Street to life as a stage show. Big shout also for Randy Skinner who choreographed the current revival.

That line jars with me a little too but it usually gets a laugh and I suppose it fits with the scene a little later when Julian says he will take the next girl he sees in the street. He then asks Peggy whether she can dance, and Peggy energetically demonstrates her ability to do a range of different steps until Julian says: 'OK. The job is yours', or something similar.

But overall I really love all the dialogue. It's short and snappy and totally to the point and dotted with wisecracks and jokes, not all of which are picked up by the audience but they always entertain me. What a feast of super songs and super dancing it all is!  I suppose it is time I now admitted that I am back on 25 September and 2 October in A0 and A24 respectively.

Anyone?

Ooo I'm glad they are doing Open Auditions as opposed to just people who have previous experience or know the right people! Also nice to see that they are auditioning for a new cast, giving hope it will last at least another year.