This musical is all about the big numbers – and they really are fabulous
In 2021, the success of “Anything Goes” at the Barbican proved that there remains a strong appetite for “classic tune and toe shows”, said Fiona Mountford in The i Paper. And this new production of “42nd Street” – a musical that was first staged in 1980, but which is based on a 1933 Busby Berkeley choreographed film – is sure to delight. The archetypal showbiz story, it is about a chorus girl who becomes a star, and in this revival, it has a dream leading lady in Nicole-Lily Baisden, as well as “exquisitely expressive” tap routines from choreographer Bill Deamer – and all the “energy and pizzazz” you could hope for, from the show’s opening scene to its “shimmering finale”.
