42nd Street, Cabaret Theatre Company Review
Written by Sam for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review.
This production of 42nd Street is performed and directed by Cabaret Theatre Company at The Brewhouse in Burton-on-Trent. Little Miss Allentown, a young and beautiful woman looking for hope, arrives fresh off the bus with a suitcase – her name is Peggy Sawyer and is played by Ashleigh Dudson. Peggy arrives in New York dreaming of her name being up there in the big city lights. She quickly catches the eye of a big-time director, Julian Marsh, played by Duncan Leech and lands a spot in the chorus line of Broadway’s newest and upcoming show – The Pretty Lady.
When the leading lady, Dorothy Brock (Sara Evans-Bolger) injures her ankle and is wheelchair bound for several weeks, Peggy gets her shot at being centre stage but will be the show go on?
The show starts off strong with us immediately being introduced to the main cast as well as the ensemble. The story is easy to follow because it’s about a production company preparing and rehearsing for a tour around the USA and this is clearly communicated through the dialogue. The main characters, Penny Sawyer, Julian Marsh, Dorothy Bock, Billy Lawlor (Hayden Fletcher), Maggie Jones (Sarah Towle) and Bert Barry (Dominic White) are an excellent mix and gel well together. They each bring a bit of sass and confidence to the characters they are portraying.
Although I have seen 42nd Street performed by another production company in recent years, I still find it such a fascinating show to watch, and I thoroughly enjoyed this performance. Tap dancing is a skill I could never master, and this cast has mastered timing at its best. It wasn’t messy, clunky or chaotic, it was done with enthusiasm, excitement and pure skill. Those dancing moved effortlessly across the floor and never once missed a step or were drastically out of time. It was genuinely a real pleasure to watch a group of individuals smash such a hard sequence.
One scene in particular stood out for several reasons. If you haven’t seen this show, most people will know the song ‘We’re in the Money’ and although the staging was minimalistic as a projector was used, this scene bought the pizzazz we all needed on a Wednesday evening. The choreography, staging and costumes were all incredible during this rendition because it was energetic and dazzling (the green costumes were stunning). I couldn’t take my eyes off every single movement that was happening on stage. This scene really showcased the true talents of the ensemble and Fletcher. Every single person owned their part and created a tapping masterpiece.
Throughout the show, the microphones unfortunately distorted the sound, and the delivery of the cast’s vocals was impacted by this. As they were singing their hearts out, the distortion made them sound like they were muffled and/or underwater / had too much bass and it was a shame because they all had incredible vocals that we absolutely wanted to hear. There were also occasions where people forgot to mute or turn off their mics as we could hear conversations backstage – this did happen whilst some of the cast were on stage so it was a bit distracting at times. This may have just been an opening night issue as there are always teething problems during the first show. Please do not let this cloud your judgement.
You absolutely need to get your dancing shoes down to the theatre as 42nd Street is tapping away until Saturday 15 March and there are limited tickets available for the remainder of the week. They can be purchased from the website here.
★ ★ ★ ★
