Review: 42ND STREET at Châtelet

After two postponements, the revival of the 2016 Châtelet production of 42nd Street is finally on till January 15th, with a brand-new cast but the same creative team as the original. Stephen Mear had already directed and choreographed the piece for the Parisian public six years ago. In the meantime opened a London revival of the first Broadway version with the original staging and choreography of the late Gower Champion, brilliantly enhanced by Randy Skinner, which took the work to another level of spectacular, so grand was the scale of the production value and money spent! That particular once-in-a lifetime and never-to-be-seen-again production was luckily preserved on video for posterity, but it doesn't take away from the qualities of this more intimate Châtelet version.

A dancer in the original London production, just like at-the-time newcomer Catherine Zeta-Jones, who made the cliché plot come true in a well-known case of life imitating art, Stephen Mear, though still infusing some tap-dancing into his choreography for Hello Dolly at Regent's Park Open Air and Funny Girl at Chichester and Théâtre Marigny, has since specialized more in the jazz dance vocabulary. In this regard, his staging of the pivotal number "Lullaby of Broadway" contains more dancing than the Broadway and London versions, and his choreography for "Plenty of Money and You" has a distinct nod to Bob Fosse while, on the other hand, the 11 o'clock title number lacks some of the virtuoso tap dancing of the original.

The iconic curtain-raiser and the other big production number are intact and, as is the case with musicals oft mounted around the world, it is always good to have some fresh ideas, and Stephen Mear always has the gift for bringing us them, as well as for super clean and tight execution of his choreography by a perfectly drilled and highly talented dancing ensemble.

The new cast is just as good as the 2016 one, with the excellent Rachel Stanley, recently seen in Paris as Fanny Brice's mother in Mear's Funny Girl at Théâtre Marigny, stealing the show as the ageing star Dorothy Brock, and Alex Hanson, Olivier-award nominated for Marguerite (2009) an A Little Night Music (2010) as a perfect Julian Marsh. Emily Langham, recently see in o the UK tour of White Christmas and as Anybodys in West Side Story at the Manchester Royal Exchange, is the equally perfect ingénue Peggy Sawyer, aptly accompanied by the talented, if somewhat vocally annoying, Jack North as Billy Lawlor. Annette McLaughlin as Maggie Jones and the rest of the supporting cast are also of high caliber but, together with the dancing ensemble, the evening belonged to the all French, 30-piece Châtelet orchestra, sadly a number no longer found in Broadway and West End pits, conducted by legendary Gareth Valentine. The sets and costumes by Peter McKintosh and the lighting design by Chris Davey are of course of West End caliber.

The Covid crisis and its harsh economic consequences mirror the Great Depression of the early 30s, the time when 42nd Street is set, so the delays in this revival have made it quite right on time, even if with a new contemporary edge. A trademark for all productions at the Châtelet.