42nd Street - A New Production - London & Tour

More of a pain than being unemployed?

We do now! 

last show at Sadlers Wells today, 5 stars from me.
(although I am probably biased, my third favourite musical behind Company and Miss Saigon)

Nicole Baisden was fab, would love to see her again.

Saw the Drury Lane production 10+ times,
of course as a touring show this was never going to live up to that.

The smaller cast didn't bother me,
I think anymore people and that stage would've been too full.

The stairs scene was indeed quite sh*t, a bit of a let down,
but I understand they are restricted not having a permanent home in the West End.

Couldn't stop smiling throughout! my face hurts!

I never saw 42nd st before, though I am familiar with the songs. A jukebox musical (can't remember the details but was kind of an obsession for producer David Merrick) with a weak book, entertaining but lacking punch, maybe due to the smallness of the production. I think this is the same director of Singing in the rain, I walked out of that at Wimbledom theatre, which was awful. He does a much better job here. Actors are ok, the protagonist really taps for her dinner. I did not care much about the others, though Ruthie Henshall knows how to command attention. The last number on the stairs was a bit of a letdown, I was up in the theatre, the lighting and the costumes had similar tones and everything blended, not very distinctive. I wouldn't see it again but it was an ok afternoon.

On the plus side, it was full, groups of friends, lots of children and I was expecting the worse, glad I was wrong, it was a very well-behaved audience.

No tour reports yet, so I'll start. I decided that Canterbury counts as outer London, so made yesterday evening's show. The tour is selling rather well, and I decided I can't make Leeds work on any of the dates when there are decent seats left.

Getting to Canterbury should be easy with the high speed rail line (and is relatively well priced with a Network Railcard). In fact, it's rather stressful, so not something I'd do regularly. My tube broke down on route, I then missed my planned train, had to change at Ashford, and made the show with about two minutes to spare. The last train back to London is at 22:23, so I was also worried around timing (I did book a very cheap 1:00am coach as a backup). As it happens, the show was over at 22:02, earlier than scheduled, and this is with starting slightly late (and the interval running more than 20 minutes), so there were no issues. I did wonder if other cast/crew would be commuting, but didn't spot anyone obvious rushing for the train.

The Marlowe Theatre itself is about a 10 minute walk from the station, through a bustling area of Canterbury, but I didn't get chance to do much more than walk through. It's a modern building. The front row is tight and not terribly comfortable.

This is the first venue, second week, for the tour cast (mostly the same as London, with the exception of the leads). The new leads played things quite differently. All good, some different comedy approaches. Michael Praed is always very watchable, but it takes a bit of getting used to a Julian Marsh with a southern drawl. He did have one rather strange line, which he tried to correct and didn't really help himself, but it was done with conviction and that's the important thing.

There has been quite a bit of restaging due to the smaller stage and some scenes are a bit crowded, but the ensemble did a great job. Not all of the set has made it onto the tour. The band is also smaller, and it does make a difference.

One benefit of a smaller orchestra pit is being much nearer the stage. I was on the front row, there was certainly eye contact. George looked like he was going to burst out laughing throughout. Alyn was as charming and professional as ever. Of course, this is 100% the Nicole-Lily Baisden show, and she was really on form.

The biggest annoyance was the positioning of speakers, lighting etc at the front of the stage, basically blocking out the feet of the cast, which for a tap dancing show has to count as restricted view. Hopefully that isn't as bad in other venues.

Back to eight male ensemble for Plenty of Money, which looks better, although no longer with a piano. Still my favourite number. It didn't surprise me at that point that the final staircase hasn't made the tour, which does lose something, but the post bow closing sequences also looks better without the dancers navigating around stairs.

The touring production will likely never quite match the Sadler's Wells version, but this is still once of the most enjoyable nights out you'll have. I am booked for Dartford, but perhaps I'll brave Milton Keynes in between.

What did you make of Faye Tozer and Samantha Womack? One friend of mine who saw it said that both were considerable downgrades from Ruthie and Josefina.

That bodes well

Saw this Wednesday night. It's like the show has had all of the nutritional goodness sucked out of it. One or two strong performances but flat linear direction and messy choreography made this a hollow experience.

And the cast just performed "We're in the money. I know I'm biased but it's pretty p**s poor compared with Drury Lane. No offence to the cast. Guess I was just spoilt with Drury Lane production.

Saw the matinee yesterday in Leeds. I enjoyed it overall - as a tap dancer myself I love all the tap dancing and Peggy's achievement of the starring role.

Didn't see Les Dennis as he was off (along with someone else who I can't remember).

The finale really is no patch on the West End version - I was left thinking "is that it, has it finished?". But of course they are limited by touring constraints, and people who haven't seen the West End version wouldn't know what they were missing.

I liked the changes to the overture with the projections on the curtain and showing the dancers auditioning, but I did miss the curtain stopping on the way up for us just to see the dancers' feet.

We had a show stop just before I Only Have Eyes for You. The sound had been going a bit iffy just beforehand, so I don't know if it was anything to do with that. There was an announcement for us to remain in our seats, but no explanation. The house lights went up, so of course people started moving around as they were possibly impatient for the interval, but it just re-started after a couple of minutes with no notice, which took the movers by surprise.

This reminds me that I did brave Milton Keynes on a free evening last week to catch the tour (an easy enough trip from London). Second row seat, the view was fine, but the seats are not the best positioned to see past the rows in front.

Kevin Brewis was on as Bert all week. I thought he brought this own spin on the character. Connor Hughes was on as Mac, which is such a waste as he just doesn't get to dance much.

I did think that everyone was on better form that an the start of the tour.

I'm booked for Dartford next week, which is one of Michael Praed's final dates before he leaves the show.

Thanks, that news had completely escaped me. Such a shame for everyone involved. I'll see if there are any decent seats left for Woking.