Photos: Original Cast & Company Celebrate Gower Champion at 42nd Anniversary of Broadway's Original 42ND STREET

Members of the original Broadway cast and company of 42ND STREET, the Tony Award-winning "song & dance extravaganza" gathered on August 25, 2022 to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the glorious musical comedy that made Broadway history, produced by David Merrick, directed and choreographed by Gower Champion.

Check out the photo below!

Their opening night made world-wide news 42 years ago, when, after 15 curtain calls, legendary producer Merrick came on stage and announced to the stunned cast, company, and star-studded audience that Gower Champion had died that afternoon. Joy turned immediately to tragedy.

Because of the Covid 19 pandemic, the cast and company of 42ND STREET were deprived of a 40th Anniversary gathering. The 2022 celebration was so big it had to be divided two separate events, one public on August 24 and one private on August 25.

Over the past 42 years 42ND STREET has been performed around the world, revived on Broadway and London, won endless awards, and achieved legendary status. But it must be remembered that only the original Broadway cast worked directly with Gower Champion on its creation. Throughout rehearsals they each had the collective and individual experience of Champion's genius as a director and choreographer. He considered them his collaborators. Starting with auditions, then getting phone calls from Champion himself to tell them they got the job, and during rehearsals, he bonded with each one of them.

The essence of both 42ND SREET'S 42nd Anniversary celebrations was about acknowledging Gower Champion's influence on their lives, then and now.

On Wednesday evening, August 24, 2022 "Dancers Over 40" ("DO40;" president John Sefakis) presented a one-night-only special event: COME AND MEET THOSE DANCING FEET: THE 42ND ANNIVERSARY AND REUNION OF 42ND STREET at the Triad Theatre in New York City. It was hosted by Lee Roy Reams (the original Tony Award-nominated Billy Lawler). Borrowing from the show-within-a-show concept, the cast and crew discussed the auditions which took place at the rooftop theatre of the New Amsterdam, the out-of-town tryout at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the extended New York previews, and finally, the historic opening night. Audience members had an opportunity to ask questions of the cast at the end of the evening before a champagne toast, provided by DO40, is made available to cheer on the performers at their "curtain call." The event sold out and was videoed for archival purposes by DO40. Its historic value to future theatre creatives and theatre aficionados cannot be underestimated.

The following night was a private event open only to the actors, dancers, creatives, staff, and immediate family members who were actually at the Winter Garden Theatre on opening night: August 25, 1980. It was organized by cast members Tony Parise, Lars Rosager and Jean Preece and held at Frying Pan, located on a docked Coast Guard lightship near Hudson Yards.

Among the participants were Karin Baker, who was Gower Champion's co-assistant, Stage Manager Steven Zwiegbaum, Stage Manager Arturo Porazzi. Baker's description of the process by which Champion created the movement in 42ND STREET was a master class on creativity and collaboration in the musical theatre. Carole Cook, now 98, the original "Maggie Jones," sent a video and message from her home in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Jhoneen Preece-Doswell