42nd Street West End revival out on Blu-Ray today

This 2017 London revival was really fascinating for a number of reasons. It was essentially the 2001 Broadway revival, but yet it played so much better at the Drury Lane than it did at the Hilton/Lyric/Ford Center/Foxwoods. Both are big theatres, but to hear a mix with real ambient sound at the Drury Lane, rather than something agressively piped at you through the sound system made a huge difference. I think too they were able to use all the swings for the big production numbers, so everything looked huge.

Small cavils: I wish the revival had more of the Depression-era palette of the original David Merrick production. Everything is a little too day-glo and candy colored. Also, the cast of this London revival was stronger at the top of the run. This cast gets a little too broad in spots. But still, it's largely delightful.

Claire Halsey is a star. I saw her Peggy Sawyer three times over the London run and she never gave less than 110% and made it look easy, each and every time.

This show, in replica of London's production, would be PERFECT for the reopening of Broadway. The world could use some fun, frothy, production shows right now.

In a perfect world, someone would mount a top-tier revival of Crazy For You as well.

Speaking of Robin Wagner's original sets (I don't think anything ever came of this).....

‘42ND STREET’ SHUFFLE – DID HIT MUSICAL’S DESIGNER STEAL FROM ‘80 SHOW?

Updated On: 7/7/21 at 12:54 AM

This was such an awful production. Opulently designed and choreographed, but the performances and Bramble's direction were excruciating. The book has always been terrible, and these performances put a magnifying glass up to its flaws. There is no weight to the story, and the fluffy musical numbers don't move the plot, so it feels more like a Radio City Christmas show than a musical.

David Merrick's demotion of "lead-ins and crossovers" (instead of "book) had a lot of merit.

Updated On: 7/8/21 at 03:24 PM

PBS played this again last night, at least the Seattle station did.

I have to agree with the comments about this being a pretty fluffy show. I put it on this afternoon while doing chores/ making dinner, so didn't watch all the dancing, but the book is full of so many groaners. Also parts of the plot (like calling in a mobster to deal with the boyfriend) feels like it's lifted from other shows, but then it never really goes anywhere interesting. When I did sit down & watch parts of this performance, I found this cast to be quite bland.

I've only seen this show live a couple times in regional summer stock productions. Those were able to use large choruses, with lots of young dancers, and weren't terrible even though those acting the lead roles in both productions tended to play the characters very broadly.

In the current climate, I can't see an expensive production of this show being done without a big name attached; but the only problem is that none of the lead roles really offer anything to attract a name. Even in the OBC cast, it feels like Jerry Orbach's talents must have been really wasted.

morosco said: "Am I the only one who has always felt like the actress playing Peggy Sawyer should get the last bow?"

She usually doesn't because it is usually a more famous actress in the Dorothy Brock role.