The choice of 42nd Street struck me as a daring, perhaps even foolhardy one for a company that specialises in singing. OK, Oxford Operatic Society put on musicals which have some dance in them, but a show that requires almost the entire cast to be able to tap-dance for most of its duration seemed pretty risky.

Tap is a very specialised dance form, and you can’t cheat your way through it; it has to be very precise, and it’s hard to look good while you’re doing it, unless you’ve had a lot of practice. What a pleasant surprise it was, then, to find about 40 people all tapping away very convincingly, and actually able to smile and project their personalities during these taxing routines.

A staggering amount of work must have gone into achieving this. There are some terrific songs — We’re in the Money, Lullaby of Broadway — but visually, dance is what the show is about.

The theme is a familiar one. Naive, unknown newcomer is picked from the chorus line to replace the ageing, injured star, and becomes an overnight sensation, as well as winning the affections of the leading man. It’s a show within a show. We meet the characters off-stage; we watch the rehearsals, and at the end we see a large chunk of the show they are preparing, Pretty Lady.

Louise Cobb plays the heroine Peggy Sawyer as a complete innocent, new in town and overawed by the company she finds herself in. She seems ready to do a bunk at any moment, and indeed does so just before she is hauled back to save the show. This is a part that calls for considerable acting ability, and contrasts the shy, off-stage character, with her glamorous on-stage personality. Cobb pulls this off successfully, despite the most unflattering of wigs!

Julia Seymore makes a lovely job of the ageing, past-it star, Dorothy, singing well, bitchy at times and touching at others, particularly when she tells Peggy that she has all the equipment she needs to succeed, and may even be better than she was in the role.

The director, Julian Marsh, is played by James Studds. He doesn’t have much to do at first, but as the story develops he makes this a believable, quite complex character, and really knows how to put over a song. Alex Williams is just right as the leading man, Billy, and I was particularly impressed by Marilyn Moore as one of the show’s writers. But the performance of the evening comes from Hannah Veale as ‘Anytime Annie’. She can dance, she can sing, she looks good and has a terrific personality. In short — she’s a star!

But this is a show that, more than most, relies on the whole ensemble to do the business, rather than just a handful of leading players, and I take my hat off to the chorus of tappers who keep the whole thing going like a mighty engine, and make it a pleasure to watch.