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42nd Street |
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Author: Michael Stewart & Mark Bramble
Reviewer: Carolyn Albert for Theatre Reviews Limited |
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BIG! BIGGER!! BIGGEST!!!
If there's a shortage of sequins for the rest of the millennium, they're all on stage at "42nd Street," adorning the huge ensemble of tapping boys and girls in the most spectacular and lavish production on Broadway!
  
Anyone who misses the stage shows at Radio City Music Hall or missed the Ziegfeld Follies can find happiness and fulfillment at the Ford Center for the Arts where quick-changes and kaleidoscopic patterns of waving gams, a la MGM musicals, are brought to splendid real life.
Like a dancer hovering on the tip of her toes on one foot, the entire story for the show balances on but a single line of dialogue. It's a line we've heard paraphrased for years: "You're going out there a youngster but you've got to come back a star!" This line is spoken by the show's ruthless director, Julian Marsh (MICHAEL CUMPSTY) to the little unknown kid from the chorus. She replaces the big-name star just before opening, saving the show along with the jobs of a hundred other kids - and of course the backers' investments. In this show-biz world, talent and hard work are the conduits to fame and fortune - although it's acknowledged, being a looker doesn't hurt.
The hopes and dreams of every kid who leaves home for a better life somewhere else is mirrored in this "Song and Dance Fable of Broadway," as it was billed in the 1980 stage production. From the moment the curtain rises and we first see hopeful Peggy Sawyer (KATE LEVERING) enter with the oversized suitcase she has lugged from Allentown, PA, we know this is the kid who's gonna knock 'em dead. As director Marsh reminds her, "You're the one in a million."
As the temperamental star Peggy replaces, CHRISTINE EBERSOLE's rich voice flows as sweetly as marshmallow sauce in "I Only Have Eyes for You." Kate Levering as the hopeful ingenue had the audience rooting for her from her entrance, winning their hearts as she speed taps through "Go Into Your Dance." She has pep, looks, and sings and taps like a million bucks!
Male lead Michael Cumpsty oozes sufficient charm to overcome a nasty habit of sending mobsters to beat up his star's old boyfriend (RICHARD MUENZ - a fine singer given little to do here). As the "juvenile," the traditional name given to the younger male lead/love interest for the ingenue, DAVID ELDER is an all-around talent: a splendid tenor voice, excellent dancing, and great looks.
MARY TESTA electrifies every scene she appears in with her comic talent and Mermanesque vocal cords. A standout among the supporting chorines was MYLINDA HULL for her loud, clear voice. BILLY STRITCH goes nearly unnoticed as the rehearsal pianist for the show-within-a-show.
Filling a show with great songs and fabulous talents, both performing and design, can guarantee success. With so many praiseworthy accomplishments, the overall synthesis of all the goodies is credited to the director, MARK BRAMBLE, who co-wrote the original book. The easy flow between dialogue and song, the smooth movement of sets, and the clear focus on moving the story forward to its happy resolution in this gigantic hit is the biggest achievement of all!
There's shared glory for choreographer RANDY SKINNER, who had been a dance assistant to Mr. Champion in the original production. The pace of dancing is happily relentless. Using no gimmicks or clever props, Mr. Skinner coordinates dozens of dancers in perfect rhythm. Nearly every number - and there are many - is a full-scale production with extravagant showy costumes for the chorus and beautiful flowing gowns for Ms. Ebersole by ROGER KIRK, enhanced by a multitude of one gorgeous set after the other by DOUGLAS W. SCHMIDT. The production numbers are built on songs by Tin Pan Alley legends HARRY WARREN (music) and AL DUBIN (lyrics) and these songs are constant - with just that minimal story to pin them together. Additional standards you'll hear and enjoy here are "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me," "We're In The Money," "Lullaby of Broadway," "About a Quarter to Nine," and of course, the show's title song, "42nd Street."
Legends and luck have kept this 1933 Academy Award nominated film musical on the edge of a heartbeat. When it was adopted for the stage in 1980, the producer was David Merrick, a legend unto himself. The Director/Choreographer, Gower Champion, was ill and by one of those strange quirks of fate, died on the day of the show's opening, August 25, 1980. The producer kept this information quiet until it was announced from the stage at bows. The publicity generated by this strange coincidental birth of a show/death of its creative force would help propel it into an eight-year run. Of course, it didn't hurt that the show was a looker too. It won the Tony Award as best musical for 1980. Expect it to win again as Best Musical Revival of the year, keeping the legend going, the public happy, and the backers soothed.
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Produced by Dodger Theatricals, Joop van den Ende and Stage Holding.
CAST: Michael Cumpsty, Christine Ebersole, Kate Levering, Mary Testa, Jonathan Freeman, David Elder, Michael Arnold, Mylinda Hull, Michael McCarty, Richard Muenz, Allen Fitzpatrick, Beth Leavel (standby), Billy Stritch, and an ensemble of 40.
Theater: Ford Center for the Performing Arts, 213 West 42nd Street.
Schedule: Tuesday - Saturday at 8, Wednesday & Saturday at 2, Sunday at 3; Opening on Wednesday, May 2nd @ 6:30pm. No performance Sunday, May 6th.
Tickets: $25-90, with student rush @ $20, day of performance only with student ID.
Audience: All - including any children who can sit still for 2½ hours; contains no violence, no sexually explicit material, and no off-color language that we noticed
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