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Sunderland Empire showcases West End ‘42nd Street’ perfection

Between Tuesday 17th- Saturday 21st July, the cast of the most recent UK’s tour of ‘42nd Street’ took to the stage at the Sunderland Empire. An extravaganza of a show, set in 1930’s New York, a quintessential “backstage” musical about the forever famous Broadway and a young girl ‘Peggy Sawyer’ trying to succeed in showbiz.

The story line followed Peggy through her ups and downs, depicting the challenges and opportunities open to talented people entering the industry. Despite meeting much opposition from her notoriously hard-to-please director, Julian Marsh, as well as coming up against a big-headed diva,

Dorothy Brock and many other chorus members, Peggy manages to score herself a part on the front line of the chorus. When things take a turn for the worst, Peggy is offered the dream opportunity to take on the responsibility of the main role in the show’s show ‘Pretty Woman’. Opening night is a resounding success, marking her future as a successful Broadway star.

Starring Dave Willetts, one of the countries top musical theatre stars for over 25 years who has starred in numerous west end shows, (Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Cats, Ragtime), as the part of ‘Julian Marsh’ the demanding, high profile director of ‘Pretty Woman’. Willetts who gave a solid performance in both his acting and vocals, was an integral part to the all round performance, playing the part of Julian Marsh very realistically. Marti Webb, who played the part of diva ‘Dorothy Brock’ gave an incredibly moving performance in ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ with her strong alto vocal holding the audience as well as her comedy role being performed and executed brilliantly.

Our favourite part of the show was the leading lady Jessica Punch who played ‘Peggy Sawyer’ with a brilliant vocal, hilarious characterization and jaw-dropping tap abilities. She held the show in the way a lead should, and despite exhausting dance routines and other scenes still pulled through within the same rigour throughout the show. A truly inspiring performance.

Overall, the show was thoroughly enjoyable with fantastic dance routines and a show stopping finale. Both Jessica Punch and James O’Connell were outstanding and pulled through a very believable Peggy and Billy. The theatre was packed out, with all ages and held a great buzz across the auditorium. Sitting in the beautiful theatre, only added to a great show and a great night out!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Bales .