42nd Street at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

All new and different - I quite liked them.

Ah so she's off the 16th May not 16th June then? (As I understood from the previous post announcing her days off.) I thought it seemed strange her being off for 3 Saturdays in a row. Maybe I can go on 16th June as I'd originally planned (that suits me best as it's just after my birthday).

Thanks for the info theatre monkey :-)

Well it was 6 pages ago but since then it's been confirmed it is June not May!

Might not go and see Steph until after Lulu leaves as it looks like there'll be massive demand for day seats/todaytix tickets when she's on while Lulu is Dorothy. Then again I guess it all depends on who the next Dorothy is. In the meantime I'll go and see the new cast when I am next able to head to the theatre.

Now that the ends of row A are £25 have the price of day seats also gone up?

I think the issue here is miscasting. If you are referring to Lulu she should never have been cast.

Very good! I was really expecting that they would, fingers crossed that they don't go up for a while.

Yes programme has new cast and bios. Photos don't show Dorothy Brock so guess that will be in next print.

Well, I am going to see the show again tonight. I am going with an open mind and see what happens. One thing for sure, the new ensemble are fantastic and deserve as much support as they can get. For some of them, this is their first major role on stage and they deserve a lot of credit for that!

Well Clare R is on as Peggy again and Lisa Dent as Phyllis. I did enjoy Clare when she covered Peggy at the end of last year. I guess Number 1 Cover Hannah- Faith Marram is not up to scratch yet??

Really good show tonight. My first time seeing the new cast, who were in fine form.

Based on the comments here, I expected Lulu to be awful. She wasn’t. She wore few stunning costumes well and I heard a few people commenting how agile she was during the interval. Very different style to Sheena, but probably truer to the idea of Dorothy Brock being past her best. The accent she used worked, some great comedy timing and good vocals in some songs, especially I Only Have Eyes For You, which was lowered to suit her voice. A little pitchy in some parts, but Lulu was definitely seen as a star by the audience. The country and western singing style also worked really well as a contrast to Sheena’s powerful voice.

She did look a little facially old to have a sugar daddy, but I’m sure there’s irony there. Will be quite a contrast in age when any of the cover Pat Dennings go on.

Ashley Day looked stunning too and really lit up the stage. Danced well and sang clearly, although some songs needed a bit more power. I’m sure he’ll be great in a few weeks.

Clare Richard did very well as undercover Peggy. Glad I got the chance to see her. It’s a hard act to follow.

New ensemble did really well. One of the girls lost her hat during the second half Getting Out Of Town, which ended up kicked to the front of the stage before it caused an accident. The vocal mixes to There’s A Sunny Side To Every Situation don’t quite gel yet.

An enthusiastic audience. Lots of cheering and clapping. Not quite a full standing ovation but lots of people standing. I had a great front seat from Today Tix so could really make out the new cast and interesting to see some of the swapped tracks from people who stayed on.

A show stlll in fine form! Give it a few weeks and it will be better than ever. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Lulu’s engagement extended too unless there’s another big name lined up.

Ive heard so many bad things about Lulu that I’m desperate to see it now. May have to go and see it ASAP

I also went tonight, to see the new cast, and loved the show.

Regarding Lulu, I'm in the middle of the above two views: Lulu's worn smokey, slightly squeaky cartoonish aged Jessica Rabbit voice, retains enough belt to be interesting and distinctive, but oh, her acting, she just does not connect with any other human being on stage. She's an island unto herself, giving a pre-planned performance that is unconnected to any other actor. Big gestures do not big emotions make, if there's nothing behind them.

I loved one song she sang, her duet with Peggy, "About a Quarter to Nine," which was vastly elevated by the generosity of Clare Rickard's performance. Rickard was so good at mirroring and responding to Lulu's big gestures, that a momentary and tender connection formed between the two actors that was lacking elsewhere.

Rickard herself was a revelation as Peggy, a desperately unconfident loveable dope, the opposite of the magical Mary Poppins can't-take-your-eyes-off-her charisma of Clare Halse. Where Halse is extraordinary, a pocket rocket dynamo of dazzling amazement, Rickard is relentlessly ordinary. And the effect is to hugely boost the narrative value of the show, giving us an ordinary avatar for our own ordinariness, someone riddled by insecurity, to root for. When Halse's Peggy declared she was a "good" dancer, she delivered the line with vim, but Rickard infuses doubt into the declaration, rendering her Peggy vulnerable, even when she is feigning boldness.

The result is that, while I was less dazzled by Rickard than Halse, (Halse is pure magic, like Tinkerbell in Peter Pan), I cared more about her character, and in a show as shallow as this, that's precious.

When I saw this with Stuart Neal as Billy Lawlor, he was such a loving presence that I was shipping him and Halse's Peggy to such a degree that I resented Tom Lister's Julian getting between them. Ashley Day caused me no such reservations lol.

Day is a wonderful Billy, but the only person this Billy loves is himself, his reflection, his ear to ear perma-smile and his own dancing feet. Like a character from a Ryan Murphy show, such as Glee, fuelled by narcissism and a love of showbiz, he is an infectiously shallow presence, a tonic to deep and worrying thoughts. You could swim in this Billy's self-regard, and you will smile blankly and keep on smiling, as unlike Lulu, Day connects with all the characters in the show, and the audience too, and his buoyancy and joy will wash your worries away.

All in all, I loved Rickard for her (wisely, as Halse's radiance cannot be copied) radically different take on Peggy, and Day for his electric Billy, and while Lulu never made for a convincing character, I was glad to have seen Lulu herself on stage (I have fond memories of her singing about Bond's "powerful weapon" in the "Man with The Golden Gun" theme lol).

4 stars