Can you hear the beat of their dancing feet? Bonnie Langford, Tom Lister, Clare Halse and Philip Bertioli got a chance to see themselves starring in 42nd STREET. Who else made the reunion for the private cast screening of the musical ahead of its release to 650+ cinemas on 10 and 12 November 2019?
As if you didn'd know... 42nd Street, with music and lyrics by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, centres on the efforts of famed Broadway director Julian Marsh to mount a successful stage production of a musical extravaganza at the height of the Great Depression and Peggy Sawyer, a talented newcomer with stars in her eyes who gets her big break after leading lady Dorothy Brock is injured. Bonnie Langford, who played Peggy Sawyer in the original London production, now stars as Dorothy Brock alongside Emmerdale’s Tom Lister (as Julian Marsh), Clare Halse (Peggy Sawyer) and Philip Bertioli (Billy Lawlor).
The stage production was produced by Michael Linnit and Michael Grade. It was filmed live for the cinema screen at the 2000-seat Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in November 2018 by BroadwayHD, the US-based streaming service for live theatre. Ross MacGibbon directed the filmed version in collaboration with the late Mark Bramble, filming in 4K with eight cameras at three separate performances to capture the spectacular scale of the stage show.
The 60-strong cast also features Jasna Ivir (as Maggie Jones), Christopher Howell (Bert Barry), Matthew Goodgame (Pat Denning), Graeme Henderson (Andy Lee), Bruce Montague (Abner Dillon), Mark McKerracher (Mac/Doc/Thug), Emma Caffrey (Annie), Ella Martine (Lorraine), Clare Rickard (Phyllis) and Paul Knight (Oscar).
