42nd Street- a West End musical tour de force.

42nd Street- a West End musical tour de force.

You walked among the richly imposing paintings and marbled splendour of the Drury Lane theatre. Here in London's seething, teeming, hip hopping, break dancing West End you marvelled at London's glittering history and tradition. It was simply breathtaking but then you've always known that to be the case anyway so nothing has changed.

 You then cast your eyes at the stunning statues in the foyer, taken aback by their ever present and uncompromising beauty. Your eyes felt quite honoured because this is the way it's always been and always will be hopefully. It was the very heartbeat of the West End and that old pulmonary system with all of its surrounding nerve endings and arteries, is in the rudest health. Once again the world of show business was alive and well, its musical heritage maintained quite brilliantly.

For what seemed the best part of just over two hours, 42nd Street, undoubtedly one of the glitziest, chintziest and glamorous of all musicals did the trick once again. Of course those long running musicals which have so captured the public's imagination for much longer than 42nd Street are now festively festooned around the West End like the glinting jewels in a thousand crowns.

Outside in the glorious Covent Garden piazza a million lights twinkled around the whole of the old fruit and vegetable market stalls, Christmas trees firmly planted in comfortable corners of the huge square. It was the perfect night for watching one of those delightfully old fashioned West End musicals that never seem to lose their lustre. Somehow the West End always makes you feel good, re-affirming all the good things in life and never disappointing.

So it was that my wife and I settled down to watch 42nd Street, quite the most astounding, outstanding, showbiz oriented extravaganza, a magnificently theatrical joy ride, a spectacular musical journey into the world of old time vaudeville, charming cabaret and drama queen histrionics. But above all this was all about tap dancing, tap dancing galore and tap dancing that seemed to get progressively faster with every second.

This was mesmerising tap dancing at its most extraordinary, a whole cast of naturally gifted tap dancers who couldn't help but enjoy themselves and knew they were creating something pretty special. This was a clattering, chattering, stomping, stirring, pulsating, unbelievably perfect tapfest. For much of the performance you were reminded of a hundred typewriters, as straight backed legal secretaries finished those final letters of the day.

The story is a simple one. A whole troupe of ambitious dancers and vast egos compete for a place in the Pretty Lady Broadway show to end all shows. They pout, pose, leap into the air, the men flirting playfully and outrageously and the women teasingly returning the favour. They fall out, argue endlessly, make up constantly, engage in interminable slanging matches and then find themselves consumed with jealousy when one thinks the other is getting far more publicity than the other.

Undoubtedly the most familiar face in 42nd Street is Bonnie Langford, a child star and now model showbiz role model, all vividly oozing red lipstick and a woman of a thousand dresses. Langford is deliciously pretentious, full of prima donna strops, moody tantrums and eternally beaming smiles that seem to illuminate the whole of the Drury Lane stage with the most dazzling panache.

Langford, who first came to our notice on a late 1960s children's TV programme in Britain called Junior Showtime, has now blossomed into a performer of star quality. She went on to appear in Just William and threatened to scweam and scweam if she didn't get her way. Now though Langford is the finished article, a figure of perpetual motion, swaying and pirouetting on the most nimble feet elegantly and terribly light heartedly without a care in the world.

After many a rehearsal we were then treated to all of the 42nd Street classics such as 'I Only Have Eyes for You' covered most lovingly by Art Garfunkel during the 1970s, the mercenary, money grabbing 'We're in the Money' and the all conquering, sweepingly joyful 'Lullaby of Broadway'. Smartly suited men with dapper scarves and women in the most flowing of dresses floated and swirled through well disciplined routines of tapping and variations on more tapping.

This was quite the most remarkable cavalcade of tap dancing, row upon row of high kicking, barely believable sequences. On the stage three staircases of feet pounded away furiously and frenetically, a whirlwind of flying feet in perfect harmony. Then all you could hear were what sounded like a factory of shoes and feet, pittering and pattering away energetically like that industrious typing pool.

By the end the Regency Club, which had now become the ideal setting for these tap dancing geniuses, finally celebrated the Pretty Lady box office Broadway blockbuster they must have known it would be. On the show went sounding like that relentless Morse Code of messages across the stage, tapping and rapping, tripping the light fantastic, never stopping and never pausing for breath.

42nd Street is one of those legendary musicals that remain a timeless treasure trove of the early 20th century American songbook. It's full of showbiz tongue in cheek, funny, impossibly facetious at times and then full of thrilling exhibitions of effortless tap dancing. How could you resist 42nd Street particularly on a nippy, chilly but still pleasant Saturday evening towards the end of November? Go on indulge yourself in the ultimate of showbiz musicals. The West End will embrace you with welcoming arms. It'll make your heart sing.