Former CFT boss Jonathan Church brings 42nd Street to Southampton

Now he’s directing it in a new production on the road with dates including Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre from October 3-7.

“It's not the Chichester production but what was so important for us in Chichester was that it was the first project that was choreographed by our Singin’ in the Rain choreographer Andrew Wright. Bill Deamer (who now choreographs and designs 42nd Street on tour) did Babes In Arms for us in Chichester and I think what Bill gave us with that production was the knowledge that Chichester was a great dance space. We had done Carousel and lots of other musicals that had been really successful but basically we had done song-based musicals whereas Babes In Arms was one that really relied on the choreography and because that choreography was so good in the show, we started to do more dance-based musicals. I then got the rights to 42nd Street and I asked Bill if he would be free to do it for us but he wasn't and that's how we got Andrew who went on to work with us on Singin’ In The Rain.”

Jonathan got to know 42nd Street co-writer Mark Bramble while he was doing Barnum at Chichester Festival Theatre: “And I said to Mark ‘You have got this huge Broadway production of 42nd Street but you can't tour it! Why don't we try and do something more on the scale of Singin’ In The Rain?” And that became the plan. Sadly Mark died in the meantime and then the pandemic intervened but the great thing is that now it is happening. And Jonathan is confident it will find its moment.

“I think back to the first two or three shows that I ever saw in the West End and one was Me And My Girl and the other was 42nd Street and there was something about the scale and also about the dancing. It just had all the things that I love about musicals, that it was fun and it was uplifting. And like Singin’ In The Rain it's another back-stage story, similar in content and I just felt that we could get a feel for it. 42nd Street is set post-Depression and in a way it's a bit like post-pandemic. Everyone has had a break because of the Depression because broadly Broadway shut down or was very reduced in size and they are now coming back and they're putting on a show and it's just so important that it works. And in a way that was a bit like coming out of pandemic when you just didn't know whether the audience would come back, when you just didn't know whether a production would be able to continue without being hit by Covid. It is just about trying to get back.”

Fresh off the bus from small-town America, young and beautiful Peggy Sawyer arrives in New York City dreaming of her name in lights. She quickly catches the eye of a big-time director and lands a spot in the chorus line of Broadway’s newest show… and then gets her shot at stardom: “It just feels to me that it is such a clever musical. It is set during the Depression era but it's a 1980s musical and it pays homage to a whole range of other works. You can feel in it Chorus Line and Top Hat and Singin’ In The Rain...”