Think of every showbiz cliché, add music and 80 dancing feet. Then let yourself be swept back 70 years to a time when shows could be pro-duced for $100,000, dancers earned $32 a week and tickets cost all of $4.40.
The national tour of Broadway's 2001 Tony-winning revival may be corny and totally predictable, but the producers and director Mark Bramble had the good sense to put enough bodies on stage - 40-plus enthusiastic performers with tapdance pizzazz.
Based on the 1933 movie musical by the same name, as well as producer David Merrick's 1980 stage version, the revival of "42nd Street" plays the same vintage song standards by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics), including "Lullaby of Broadway," "You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me" and "About a Quarter to Nine." The movie's lovely ballad, "I Only Have Eyes for You," eliminated from Merrick's production, made the Broadway cut this round. Randy Skinner recreated director/choreographer Gower Cham-pion's 1980 dances and added a few touches of his own.
This crowd-pleasing, backstage confection re-volves around the Broadway aspirations of a fictional musical, "Pretty Lady," and its stereotypical plot lines up the usual suspects. A naïve, fresh-faced kid named Peggy Sawyer, leaves Allentown, Pa., and heads to New York. On her first day in town, she gets cast in the chorus. When the bitchy "don't touch me" leading lady, Dorothy Brock, breaks her leg, the likeable "kid" goes on to become a star - and encouraged by a few rehearsal kisses, falls for Julian Marsh, the hard-nosed director whose tough heart is finally touched by love.
Add a seasoned showbiz duo, Maggie Jones and Bert Barry, delightfully executed by Patti Mariano and Frank Root - Mariano even does a splendid cartwheel. Throw in Billy Lawler, the egotistical tenor/tapper who imagines himself to be irresistible. Finally, tack on Julian's infamous line, "You're going out there a youngster, but you have to come back a star."
Blair Ross, as Dorothy, can sing the be-goodness out of any tune, Robert Spring is perfect as the song-and-dance dynamo Billy and Patrick Ryan Sullivan imbues Julian with just the right amount of chauvinistic sexiness. In a charming twist of fate, life actually imitates art in this production. Talented Catherine Wexford, who gives a wonderfully energetic performance as Peggy, was lifted from the chorus of the Broadway revival.
All of that said, the real star of this show will always be the tap dancing, and 40 pairs of synchronized dancing feet are nigh on irresistible. For "We're in the Money," Billy dances on a giant dime, backed by girls in gold-spangled, retro, bra-and-panty sets reeking Victoria's Secret chic. "Dames," the Busby Berkeley extravaganza, reflects kaleidoscopic dazzle in front of a majestic art deco mirror.
Other numbers play for humor. With its train-whistle harmonies, "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" provides a berth full of laughs and a playful per-formance by Alana Salvatore as Annie, a chorine floozy with a stripper voice and a cutaway bridal gown that flashes her garter-belt gams. But nothing beats the title tune, which begins with the seductive wail of a sax and ends with a showstopping tap dance salute.
The production's deco-inspired design packs feathered and sequined finery, wonderful vintage luggage and an incredibly mellow cat wearing a faux diamond collar. Another retro touch, one of show's vibrantly painted backdrops displays a patchwork of marquees touting Broadway shows from 1933.
This feel-good musical probably won't win over the hip-hop set, unless they're taking a theater-history course or comparing the sound of tap shoes to an ammo round from an AK-47. But if you like old-fashioned musicals with big, glitzy tap numbers, you'll be in nostalgia heaven on that glorious gulch they call "42nd Street."
And don't run out of the theater during the finale. After their downstage bow, the "kids" reprise "Lullaby of Broadway," one of the best numbers in the show. Makes you remember another Julian Marsh line: "The two most beautiful words in the English language - musical comedy."
"42nd Street" continues at the 5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 Fifth Ave., through Sunday, June 8. Prices: $15-$60. Tickets/information: Ticketmaster at 292-2787 or 5th Avenue Box Office at 625-1418.
Freelance writer and Queen Anne resident Starla Smith can be reached at qanews@nwlink.com [[In-content Ad]]
