REVIEW: 42nd Street at Newcastle Theatre Royal ★★★★★

Credit: Johan Persson

Last week I had the pleasure of watching 42nd Street at Newcastle Theatre Royal, and I have to say, the show is now firmly up there as one of my favourite shows!

The show follows a new show, Pretty Lady, through the rehearsal process, before its eventual opening on Broadway. Peggy Sawyer, a small-town girl who heads to New York to get her big break, is the show's protagonist, played by the amazing Nicole-Lily Baisden. The show is full of show-stopping tap numbers, amazing vocal performances and outstanding acting. The whole show is, in my opinion, flawless.

I will be honest, I am an absolute sucker for tap dancing, and it is so annoying we rarely get to see the old-school, classic musicals full of tap anymore. I'm so glad that 42nd Street came back on tour, but absolutely gutted that I saw it so late on the tour that I won't get chance to see it again. The choreography was flawless, I absolutely loved it. I love how tap dancing becomes the music in itself, and all the cast never put a foot wrong. It was beautiful to watch, and the 42nd Street number was one of the best things I've seen in theatre. I've never seen a cast with so much energy - I was in awe of every single one of them.

Whilst the set was quite stripped back, I felt like it did the job, but was the only let down in terms of the show for me. This is a really minor point though, because there's so much amazing storytelling and projections, that an extravagant set isn't really needed. 

The cast were absolutely brilliant too. I was slightly sceptical as there was a lot of stunt casting for 42nd Street, however I could not fault anyone. The energy everyone showed, the talent that was on the stage, I was blown away. Samantha Womack was brilliant as Dorothy Brock, really capturing the character, and I was really pleasantly surprised by her performance. I really need to stop being so snobby about these things! Michael Praed was also amazing. To be honest, I didn't know who he was (I think he's a few generations before me!), but thought he slotted into the cast very well. Les Dennis wasn't at the performance I watched, but I'm sure he would've been great also.

The stars of the show for me though were Nicole-Lily, Sam Lips, and the whole ensemble cast. I was in utter awe of how much energy they brought to the stage - I mean they literally danced for 2 hours straight and barely even broke a sweat! I still, a week after watching, feel genuinely speechless from the amount of talent this bunch of people have - they are all absolute stars!

I so hope the show comes back around again soon - I'll be there front and centre enjoying it all over again!

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