If the thought of 60 numbers from the world of musical theatre makes you raise your jazz hands in the air and grapevine over to the nearest box office, you’ll find this jam-packed show is a little piece of musical-geek heaven. If, on the other hand, you regularly use the name Andrew Lloyd Webber as a particularly violent expletive, it’s a new circle of hell.
Happily, I fall into the former camp, and this feel-good compilation left me grinning like a loon. Gotta Sing Gotta Dance celebrates a dizzying range of musicals, from Old Hollywood and best of British to jukebox, Sondheim, The Glums and yes, the Lord himself, making it both constantly engaging and great value for money. Scattered among the performances are slices of history and the only debates worth having: Broadway versus West End, and Fred versus Gene.
Of course, the correct answer is all of the above, but it’s great fun seeing the arguments for both sides. After a frosty week for US/UK relations, there is a certain tension to a cleverly adapted ‘Anything You Can Do’ pitting spangles against cockneys, but the tap/musical spoons trading is a definite highlight – and possibly the only solution to political conflict not yet suggested in the media.
