42nd STREET, the 1933 movie, singing and dancing its way to success, is the archetype for all backstage Broadway musical films. It is the ultimate show biz “the show must go” on cliché.
The film’s premiere coincided with the inauguration of President Franklin D Roosevelt and the storyline has to be seen within the context of the Great Depression. The show has to go on. If the show does not go on, everybody will be destitute and queuing in the breadline. The film was immensely popular in its day precisely because it sent out such a positive signal in difficult times.
The stage show premiered in 1980. Its success was due to the production and choreography of Gower Champion who died on the day it opened. The show ran for 8 years. The production came to Drury Lane in 1984 and was revived again in 2018.
The book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble is both a parody of the genre and the real thing at the same time. The songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin include such iconic numbers as Dames, I Only Have Eyes For You, We’re in the Money, Lullaby for Broadway and 42nd Street.
Ruthie Henshall is the Broadway star who breaks her ankle the day before opening night. Nicole-Lily Baisden is the chorus girl, who takes over the lead role at ridiculous short notice and saves the show.
Adam Garcia is the bullying director, who delivers the immortal line, “You’re going out a youngster but you’ve got to come back a star!” Baisden gives a star-winning performance.
42nd Street’s success has always depended on the choreographer: first Busby Berkeley, then Gower Champion and now Bill Deamer. Big production numbers follow big production numbers. The cast’s quick changes in the wings are astonishing. Robert Jones’s costumes are a delight.
42nd Street never stops tap dancing and it is the fantastic energetic tap dancing by the whole company at exhausting speed which makes Jonathan Church’s production such a nostalgic treat.
Following its London run, 42nd Street will tour Canterbury, Leeds, Bristol, Plymouth, Cardiff, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Liverpool, Woking, Southampton, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Manchester and Belfast. You can find more information and how to get tickets by following this link.
To learn more about Robert Tanitch and his reviews, click here to go to his website. 
