42nd Street at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Ashley has tweeted his last holidays for 42nd Street!

Clare's birthday cake is amazing!

Visit number six and this really is the musical that keeps on giving. I've seen it from the extreme left and right; from upstairs and down; and now from front centre stalls.

The sheer size and scale of those production numbers makes me want to shake my head with disbelief. Of course I don't, lest I should find myself in the bad behaviour thread!

I have a question for our 42nd Street experts. Whether played by a man or woman, doesn't the thief usually wear black leggings? The actor playing the role yesterday was wearing jeans, which were more stonewashed grey than black. They didn't look right for the era.😕

I love looking down into the pit at the end, watching such masters at work. It's the little things that tickle me. The percussionist plays his tubular bells with a spanner, and the brass section do some of the dance moves. Who says men can't multitask!

Funnily enough, I thought they were leggings too, but based on many visits up close, I've realised they are actually very tight Chino/Jean material, as they also have pockets for the thief to put the stolen necklace from the first part of the dance.

He is also doing a Christmas cabaret concert at the Pheasantry in December.

The Paris Guys and Dolls is a 42nd Street fest.

I understand that Clare Halse is playing Sarah Brown and Chris Howell as Nathan Detroit with Ria Jones (from the Paris 42nd Street) as Adelaide. It's being directed by Stephen Mear.

I think it's quite a long run - through to the French summer break in July.

Is it in French? Do they speak French at all?

Ooh I see! At first I thought it was weird they had so many West End performers, cause even though I admire Clare and Matthew, I'm sure there are lots of talented French actors out there. It makes sense now.

I've seen several productions at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris (which is currently being renovated). It's a slightly bizarre experience to sit in a theatre in Paris and watch a musical with an all British cast (or occasionally mix of UK/US performers) performed in English with French surtitles to an almost entirely French audience.

 I wondered this myself a while back. 

Tonyloco provided this answer:


I may be talking rubbish (I often do) but I have the impression that 'Pretty Lady' was a kind of hybrid show that was partly a book musical and partly a revue that developed from the American burlesque and vaudeville traditions.



Judging from scenes in the movie 'The Jolson Story', shows like 'Sinbad' (1918) and 'Bombo' (1921) had a story line involving characters and situations but were also opportunities for Jolson to sing additional new songs that he could interpolate ad lib and the show could also include elaborately staged ensemble musical numbers like 'The Spaniard that blighted my life' which Jolson lifted without permission from the British music hall star Billy Merson and performed in the revue 'The Honeymoon Express' in 1913, apparently in a Spanish scene if 'The Jolson Story' can be believed.



If I have got the right slant on all this then it is anybody's guess exactly what 'Pretty Lady' was about, except that it obviously had a flimsy story about a pair of young people in love with each other and featured a lot of 'young and beautiful dames' in elaborately staged ensemble numbers with a lot of dancing that bore little or no relationship to the central storyline – and the punters were entirely happy with shows like that if the singing and dancing were of a high standard. You might even say that '42nd Street' itself is actually a good example of such a show!



Read more: theatreboard.co.uk/thread/1322/42nd-street-theatre-royal-drury?page=237#ixzz5WzSSC6z3

It made a lot more sense to me after reading this knowing that there really wasnt meant to have much of a plot in the first place.