PLAYING the lead role of Peggy Sawyer next month in the showbiz musical 42nd Street will revive happy memories for York Light Opera Company actress Alexa Chaplin.

Here Alexa is pictured on 42nd Street in New York on a New Year’s break in 2007-2008 with partner Richard Blackburn, who proposed to her at Grand Central Station – also on 42nd Street – during that romantic holiday. The two actors have since married.

Alexa, who performed opposite Richard in the principal roles in Thoroughly Modern Millie in February 2007, will play Peggy from February 10 to 21 in Martyn Knight’s production at York Theatre Royal.

Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes and the subsequent 1933 film adaptation, 42nd Street recounts the efforts of dictatorial director Julian Marsh to mount a new musical extravaganza at the height of the Great Depression. Enter a late applicant for the auditions, stage-struck chorus girl Peggy Sawyer.

Written by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin, the show features such songs as You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me, Dames, We’re In The Money, Lullaby Of Broadway, Shuffle Off To Buffalo, Young And Healthy and, of course, Forty-Second Street.

First staged on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York, on August 24 1980, 42nd Street went on to win the Tony Award for best musical and transferred to the West End in 1984, duly winning the Olivier Award for best musical. Completing a hat-trick, the 2001 Broadway revival won the Tony for best revival.

Tickets for next month’s run are on sale at £5 to £19.75 on 01904 623568 or online at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk