42nd Street (musical)

42nd Street is a hugely successful Broadway stage musical, loosely based on the movie of the same name. It also contains songs from certain other Busby Berkeley 1930s movies; the number featuring a rotating human kaleidoscope reflected in a huge oblique overhead mirror finishes parenting the musical with the great choreographer's work. The musical is generally considered among the most successful productions in the history of Broadway theater.

The musical premiered in 1980 at New York City's Winter Garden Theatre. Produced by David Merrick, the original cast included Jerry Orbach, who played the role of musical director Julian Marsh.

42nd Street won the Tony Awards for Choreography (Gower Champion) and Best Musical. It also was nominated for Tony awards for Actor (Featured Role—Musical, Lee Roy Reams), Actress (Featured Role—Musical, Wanda Richert), Book (Musical, Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble), Costume Designer (Theoni V. Aldredge), Director (Gower Champion), and Lighting Designer (Tharon Musser).

42nd Street was revived in 2001, at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts (which, in a slight marketing gimmick, is actually on 42nd Street in New York City, unlike the Winter Garden on Broadway at 50th). The revival was produced by Joop van den Ende. In the original cast, Michael Cumpsty played the Julian Marsh role, and Christine Ebersole played Dorothy Brock. This revival closed on January 2, 2005 after playing 31 previews, 1524 regular performances, and one Actors' Fund performance.

The revival won Tonys for best Actress in a Musical (Christine Ebersole) and best Musical Revival. It also was nominated for the awards for Actress (Featured Role—Musical, two nominations, (Kate Levering and Mary Testa), Choreographer (Randy Skinner ), Costume Designer (Roger Kirk), Director (Musical, Mark Bramble), and Lighting Designer (Paul Gallo).

Plot

42nd Street features the career of up-and-coming chorus girl Peggy Sawyer, who hails from Allentown, Pennsylvania and arrives in New York seeking a Broadway career. However, the talented signer and dancer becomes frustrated with Broadway and considers returning to her native Allentown. Musical director Julian Marsh intervenes and persuades Sawyer to stay, signing to her: "Come on along and listen to the lullaby of Broadway...." Sawyer then decides to continue her Broadway career, and rises quickly to extraordinary Broadway stardom. The lyrics sung by Marsh to Sawyer have become among the best recognized lyrics of any musical in Broadway history.

List of songs

All music is by Harry Warren and most lyrics are by Al Dubin.

• Overture
• Audition
• Young And Healthy (from the original movie)
• Shadow Waltz (from the 1933 Gold Diggers of 1933 movie)
• Go Into Your Dance (from the 1935 movie Go Into Your Dance , not a Busby Berkeley feature, but still a Warner Bros production with songs by the same authors)
• You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me (from the original movie)
• Getting Out Of Town (apparently never appeared in a movie)
• Dames (from the 1934 movie Dames )
• Keep Young And Beautiful (from the 1933 movie Roman Scandals )
• Dames (continued)
• I Only Have Eyes For You (from Dames)
• We're In The Money (from the Gold Diggers of 1933)
• Act One Finale
• Entr'Acte
• There's a Sunny Side To Every Situation (from the 1938 movie Hard to Get , again not a Busby Berkeley feature, but still a Warner Bros production with music by the same composer)
• Lullaby Of Broadway (from the 1935 movie Gold Diggers of 1935 )
• About A Quarter To Nine (from Go Into Your Dance)
• Shuffle Off To Buffalo (from the original movie)
• 42nd Street
• 42nd Street (Reprise)
• Finale Ultimo

The It Must Be June and possibly Pretty Lady songs from the movie are not featured.

See also

• 42nd Street
• 42nd Street (film)
• Harry Warren web site