Review: 42ND STREET at Princess Of Wales

If you're looking for a holiday musical to entertain the whole family, 42nd Street is full of  song and dance, sparkling costumes, and toe-tapping spectacle. The Tony Award-winning production is playing at the Princess of Wales Theatre into the New Year.

In 42nd Street, stage producer Julian Marsh (Adam Garcia) is desperate for a new hit to bring him out of debt and as he wraps his final auditions for Pretty Lady, in stumbles Peggy Sawyer (Nicole-Lily Baisden), a young dancer with stars in her eyes and a formidable talent keeping those stars alight. In no time, she manages to impress Marsh to keep her in the tap-dancing chorus. Everyone seems to be excited for the young starlet's rise to fame except for one, lead actress Dorothy Brock (Ruthie Henshall) insulted that she was required to audition for her leading role and further annoyed that Sawyer can't help but upstage her. An unfortunate accident leads to Sawyer's catapult to stardom.

Admittedly, I had not heard of 42nd Street before attending the show. Much of the premise sounds similar to Phantom of the Opera, a production that I adore. However, unlike Phantom, 42nd Street seemed to lack the substance and gravitas that I look for in my preferred musical spectacles - something dark and urgent to balance the razzle dazzle. For this reason, I found myself unable to fully connect with 42nd Street. There were scenes, ones involving hired hitmen, that appeared to be ones that would add a touch of danger and excitement to the mix, but they fizzled out.

That's not to detract from the show itself - everything about the production is incredibly well done. The costumes and set by Robert Jones, choreography by Bill Deamer and Kylie Cruikshanks, and of course the talent of the cast (in particular Baisden and Henshall) is not to be ignored.

But if you are looking for a holiday show that the whole family will enjoy, 42nd Street has all the holiday sparkle you're looking for. 

Photo Credit: Johan Persson

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