Mark Bramble on the birth of tap-dancing mega-hit 42nd Street

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INTERVIEW: MARK BRAMBLE. The director of the current Theatre Royal Drury Lane revival of 42nd Street (also co-author of its book, with Michael Stewart) talks to Dominic Cavendish about the genesis of this mother of all tap-dancing musicals, its trials and tribulations during rehearsals, and the notorious Broadway opening night in 1980, which its director Gower Champion didn’t live to see. Excerpt from interview; recorded 09-02-2017. Full Daily Telegraph article here; official website

“David Merrick said: “I want to the do the biggest musical since the Second World War – I want to come back to Broadway, I want it to be the biggest show I’ve ever done.” “Who could resist that?”