Review: CFTA's 42nd STREET Taps Your Troubles Away

If there is a Broadway musical that more gleefully and accurately encapsulates the magic and mayhem of creating a brand spanking new blockbuster at the height of the Great Depression than 42nd Street, I want to see it post-haste!

Dating back to the 1933 movie musical that still delights and entertains - and which inspired Gower Champion's 1980 stage spectacle - 42nd Street provides audiences with a unique perspective on the wild and wooly business of show, set to an iconic Harry Warren/Al Dubin score that instantly whisks you away to another time and place, taking you to a world where gorgeous chorines and handsome tenors live life to its fullest and the ability to tap-dance is de rigueur. 42nd Street, with its colorful characters, memorable songs and the heightened reality of the stage, is emblematic of the hopeful nature of theater folk of the era and it exemplifies the power of creativity to change the world, even if only for a couple of hours and some change.

Presenting the tap-heavy show that relies on the skills of its ensemble for its success is a challenge for any theater company, whether it be professional or amateur, and any theater troupe brave enough to take on the daunting task deserves praise for their chutzpah. However, that's not to say that every company should choose to do 42nd Street; on the contrary, you must be certain you have a talent pool deep enough from which to cast the show properly and the financial reserves necessary to provide them with the technical wizardry necessary to pull off such a show.

The current production of 42nd Street now onstage at Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts is a pleasant enough diversion and director/choreographer Julie Wilcox has assembled an ensemble of performers who do their best to deliver the goods, earnestly and enthusiastically giving life to the wizened yet hopeful characters they portray in the show. With a book written by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, based on the 1932 novel by Bradford Ropes, and featuring the original songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin that date back to the movie musical (with other Warren/Dubin standards added to the mix to beef up the show's musical program), 42nd Street is the definitive Broadway fable, the tale of hard-working, hard-drinking and hard-driven professionals trying to catch lightning in a bottle at a time when $32 a week sounded like a king's ransom to poor, unfortunate, out-of-work hoofers.

The story is certainly old-fashioned in its way, but riding a wave of nostalgia and harkening back to the heday of the movie musical provides 42nd Street with a notable pedigree that still dazzles audiences, regardless of their vintage, and offers them the chance to time-travel from the relative peaceful confines of their seats in the darkened theater. And it's obvious, from the moment the curtain opens to reveal the ensemble tap dancing their hearts out to the show's opening number - and on to the finale in which director Julian Marsh (played by Mark Thomas, who doubles as musical director of the CFTA production) delivers his rendition of the show's title tune - that audiences love the show despite its obvious shortcomings.

Among those shortcomings? Costume and set design are pedestrian and questionable at best, with little to suggest the time period or even the notion of the era during which the show is set, and the disparate skill levels of the performers only serve to underscore the wide range of talent on display. However (and this is very important), the show's spirit is undiminished; the never-say-die attitude that is very clearly seen in the expression of every cast member ensures that the show is still fun, escapist fare.

Thomas is fine, if constrained by the show's direction, as protagonist (and director of the show-within-a-show Pretty Lady) Julian Marsh, and he is paired with recent high school graduate Kait Kloss as chorus girl turned star of the show Peggy Sawyer. Although Kloss has a period-perfect look about her and seems genial enough as the hopeful star, she lacks the maturity to pull off the role effectively. Her scenes with Thomas, particularly, are tedious, unbelievable and completely passionless.

Among the supporting players, Michael Maupins dances dreamily as Pretty Lady juvenile lead Billy Lawlor, one of the most storied characters in musical theater, and Kate Adams (CFTA artistic manager) steps in - in an example of "art imitates life" or "life imitates art," you pick - to take over the role of Maggie Jones from an injured Alexius Frost. Adams is confident and focused in her performance and you'd never know she went on for Frost on opening night and in a scant 48 hours or so was able to learn the role and perform it so seamlessly. Janet Galvao winningly sings the role of diva Dorothy Brock and supplies the show's anti-heroine with plenty of sass and bemused condescension.

But it's Emily Davis, as "Anytime Annie" who threatens to steal the spotlight from the show's principals: talented and committed, she performs her role with unbridled joy and sets the tone for the show's dancing with her leadership as dance captain. I can't help but wonder why she wasn't cast in the role of Peggy Sawyer?!

Among the ensemble, dancers Brandon Hoyt and Quantavious Rankins lead the way among the men, along with a charming Ty Walker as Maggie's songwriting partner Bert Barry. Director Wilcox is good as "Andi" Lee, the Pretty Lady dance captain, and Becca Brackett and Delana Howard are well-cast as aspiring stars of the Great White Way.

• 42nd Street. Music by Harry Warren. Lyrics by Al Dubin. Book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble. Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes. Directed and choreographed by Julie Wilcox. Musical direction by Mark Thomas. Presented by the Center for the Arts, Murfreesboro. Running through May 29. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes (with one 15-minute intermission).

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