Theatre News

Willetts & Webb headline new UK tour of 42nd Street

Dave Willetts and Marti Webb will headline a new tour of Broadway musical 42nd Street, which kicks off on 1 June 2012 and plays 23 venues to the end of the year.

Directed by the show’s author and original Broadway director Mark Bramble, the tour kicks off at Rhyl Pavilion before visiting locations including Oxford, Glasgow, Birmingham, Plymouth, Wimbledon and Manchester, finishing at the Theatre Royal Nottingham from 27 November to 1 December 2012.

The tour is produced by Martin Dodd for UK Productions, the same company behind the 2007 tour in which Willetts also appeared.

Set in 1933, 42nd Street charts the backstage dramas of an ill director’s final Broadway show, in which, following a sudden injury, leading lady Dorothy Brock is replaced by chorus girl Peggy Sawyer. Harry Warren and Al Dubin’s score includes now classic songs such as “Lullaby of Broadway”, “We’re in the Money” and the title number. The musical has a book by Mark Bramble and Michael Stewart.

Dave Willetts (Julian Marsh) has headlined countless musicals in the West End and on tour. He has played leads in shows such as Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables. He headlined Seven Brides for Seven Brothers both on tour and in the West End as well the tour of South Pacific. He recently starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard in the West End.

Marti Webb (Dorothy Brock) is one of Britain’s most popular leading ladies, whose extensive West End credits include lead roles in shows such as Blood Brothers, Tell Me on a Sunday, Song & Dance, Evita, Cats and Thoroughly Modern Millie. She recently headlined the UK tour of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! .