On The Town

19 May 2017 - 01 July 2017

Music by LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Book and Lyrics by BETTY COMDEN and ADOLPH GREEN
Based on a Concept by JEROME ROBBINS

New York, New York, it’s a helluva town!

With an incredible Bernstein score, Olivier Award-winner Drew McOnie - celebrated for his choreography on Jesus Christ Superstar - directed and choreographed On The Town, our biggest dance musical yet.

Danny Mac, Jacob Maynard and Samuel Edwards played Gabey, Chip and Ozzie - roles made famous on film by Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin - and Siena Kelly, Lizzy Connolly and Miriam-Teak Lee took the roles of Ivy, Hildy and Claire. The cast also featured Maggie Steed as Madame Dilly and Naoko Mori as Lucy Schmeeler.

Mail on Sunday

"Leonard Bernstein’s musical romcom is a glorious Valentine to the Big Apple. It’s a helluva score, pulsating to the JAZZY, BLUESY, SEXY, SLEAZY, EXHILARATING and ROMANTIC rhythms of the city that never sleeps"

"'Sex and art don’t mix'...They mix perfectly in this show, the hottest to trot in London Town"

The Times

“Stylish, sultry Manhattan musical is ONE HELLUVA SHOW

LAVISH and IMAGINATIVE…as more performers than you think possible twist and spring and strut and swing in midair, this amphitheatre in Regent’s Park fills with spring fever”

The Guardian

AS DELICIOUS AS ICE-CREAM ON A HOT SUMMER'S DAY

“McOnie’s choreography has a freshly minted zing that captures the youthful, glad-to-be-alive exuberance of its protagonists. As the trio of sailors, Samuel Edwards, Danny Mac and Jacob Maynard, dance athletically and sing tunefully and are immensely likeable…Siena Kelly’s Ivy dances every step is if her life depends on it”

Observer

"ON THE TOWN HITS ITS NEW YORK STRIDE in Regent’s Park."

"In a dream sequence, night-tinted by Howard Hudson’s wonderful lighting, everyone moves as if they were melting. Peter McKintosh’s set and costume design would have been unimaginable at the Open Air theatre before imaginative Timothy Sheader took over as artistic director."

Financial Times

“McOnie’s exuberant work is irresistible. A smart, INFECTIOUS production”

Sunday Times

"A SHOW WITH PULLING POWER. On The Town is a high-octane, superslick romp."

Radio Times

A DAZZLING REVIVAL. Director and choreographer Drew McOnie explores the work's full balletic possibilities, and in Peter McKintosh the production has a set and costume designer who has a true artist's way with colour.”

Maggie Steed stands out as the whisky-swigging dragon of a singing teacher Madame Dilly.”

The Arts Desk

“Triple threat Danny Mac and co are UNMISSABLE...a glorious reimagining of Broadway rarity”

“Crisp-as-Vermouth, towering, scissor-legged Miriam-Teak Lee is so delicious that you wonder where she has been hiding… only to discover that this is, astoundingly, her professional debut.”

WhatsOnStage

“Lizzy Connolly, Siena Kelly and Miriam-Teak Lee steal this show. Connolly is hilarious … she is GRACEFUL and HILARIOUS and manages Hildy's comedy with ease and perfect timing”

Daily Telegraph

It looks exquisite, and sounds gorgeous rising to the bravura challenge of the score with it’s clarinet siren wails, clownish shifts of tempo, and thrilling collision of jazz age dreaminess with bombardments of brass.”

Daily Express

VIVACIOUS…the stage erupts in a whirligig of dance and flashing colours; if there is any justice, newcomers Miriam-Teak Lee and Siena Kelly are on their way to stardom, while Lizzy Connolly as a gum-chewing saucebox and veteran Maggie Steed as a Jack Daniel’s-swigging singing teacher are outstanding”

City AM

“As the young lover’ night matures, the sun sets over the Regent’s Park stage, and it’s impossible not to fall for this CLASSICALLY CHARMINING ROM-COM

Evening Standard

“To the strains of Leonard Bernstein’s beautiful, often haunting, music, the ensemble twirls about the stage in a flurry of colourful costumes.”

Smooth Radio

"Fit to burst with passion and sexy vitality - the band plays it hot and the dance is on fire. Another triumph for Drew McOnie and the Open Air Theatre"

The Stage

“No one can fill a show with exhilarating jazz and beautiful balletic movement quite as explosively as Drew McOnie”

“The stand-out man is Danny Mac whose effortless tenor gives gorgeous voice to one of the show's loveliest, most mellow numbers, Lonely Town; Jacob Maynard brings an IRRESISTIBLE sweetness to the character of Chip; Lizzy Connolly is SCANDALOUSLY SENSATIONAL

“Drew McOnie's sexily hilarious and thrillingly danced revival of a Broadway classic makes THE PERFECT SUMMER TREAT

Musical Theatre Review

“The action bristles along under Drew’s direction and he is blessed with a stunning dance ensemble, members of which relish every terpsichorean moment in Bernstein’s RHYTHMICALLY-CHARGED score…propelled along with great gusto by conductor Tom Deering and played with pinpoint precision by the 17-piece orchestra”

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