42nd Street

The Fox

"Can you hear those dancing feet...?" If not, you'd better have your hearing checked, since 42nd Street begins with a stage full of dancers tapping and smiling energetically to the title song. Make no mistake about it, the 1980 musical, originally advertised as "a song and dance extravaganza", is an unashamed hymn of praise to good, old-fashioned Show Biz. It assumes you're in the theatre to have a good time and you assume it's going to deliver two and one-half hours of classic Harry Warren/Al Dubin songs, laughs, and flashy dancing. Lots of it.

The tour of 42nd Street on view at the Fox through March 16th [2003] meets all those assumptions. The large cast dances up a storm. Director Mark Bramble, who co-wrote the book along with Michael Stewart, keeps things moving briskly and efficiently, even if he does occasionally have some of his cast gild the comic lily a bit too much for my taste. And Roger Kirk's bright, colorful costumes nicely capture the 1930s ambience.

Gower Champion's original choreography, with its heavy reliance on tap and unashamed homage to Busby Berkeley, has been brilliantly reproduced here. The "coin dance" routine for "We're In the Money" has the appropriate metallic gleam and the street scene choreography for the big production number based on the title song is busy without seeming chaotic. Even from our seats over on house left, it looked great.

I haven't got the time to list every member of the talented 42nd Street cast, so I'll just touch on a few who struck me as notable for one reason or another. Pride of place goes to Catherine Wreford as Peggy Sawyer, the ingénue who becomes a star when the leading lady breaks her ankle. Her dancing is spectacular and she makes the character's "gee whiz" wholesomeness believable.

Patti Mariano and Frank Root are right on the comic target as songwriters Maggie Jones and Bert Barry. Mariano, in particular, invests her role with a wonderful energy that's a joy to watch. Blair Ross is a delightful combination of bitchiness and class as over-the-hill leading lady Dorothy Brock and Alana Salvatore shines as Annie the good bad girl — or is it bad good girl? — who helps both Peggy and the plot as needed. Finally, Patrick Ryan Sullivan is a strong and compelling Julian Marsh, the director who's risking his reputation on the success of the musical within a musical, Pretty Lady. You need to believe that this guy is charismatic, driven, and capable of inspiring his cast to greatness. Sullivan convinced me that he is; I suspect he'll do the same for you.

In these days of political pandering, corporate corruption and (to quote Tom Lehrer) universal brouhaha, 42nd Street is a welcome valentine to a mythical past both monochrome and Technicolor and the uniquely American notion that, as John Quincy Adams once wrote, "courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air."

Peggy Sawyer couldn't have said it better.

42nd Street continues through March 16th [2003] at the Fox; call 314-534-1111 for ticket information or visit Metrotix.

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