March 10--So here's a happy March surprise to go with the mild weather -- a tiptop-tapping touring production of "42nd Street," replete with some 38 young hoofers, splendiferous sets and costumes and so much dancing it feels like the fresh-faced kids in the chorus really don't want to leave the stage of the Cadillac Palace Theatre.
There's even a post-bow tap megamix to send you out happily into the street. It's a heck of a night out for aficionados of the classic, retro, song-and-dance form.
Regular readers will known I'm generally no fan of non-Equity tours, fresh from their one-nighters in Shippensburg, Penn., and Orono, Maine, parking themselves in Chicago's prestigious theater district and charging $85 for a good seat. But this show is something of a special case -- "42nd Street" doesn't work well with just a handful of kids in the line (although I've seen it in such circumstances), so there's a lot of talent to hire. And it offers a rare opportunity for tap specialists who might not yet have their union card.
Moreover, this Troika Entertainment production features direction by Mark Bramble, the co-author who helmed the 2001 Tony Award-winning revival of this title, and choreography by Randy Skinner, who worked on that very same production, a production I well remember. I caught sight of Bramble in the lobby Wednesday night -- he'd been with the company on the road for the last week or two, cleaning, polishing and readying the show for its Chicago debut and, therefore, actually directing the thing in person, rather than delegating those duties to an assistant, or an assistant to the assistant, which is more typical with non-Equity tours of shows currently playing on Broadway.
Bramble's not-so-secret weapon is pace. I clocked this "42nd Street" at about 2 hours and 20 minutes Wednesday. I swear the last time I saw it -- in Stratford, Ontario, -- we were talking more like 2 hours and 40 minutes. That 20-minute reduction does not come from cuts in the texts but a rigorous determination to proceed at breakneck speed, akin to the classic George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart comedies with which it shares a style. I can't overstate what this furious pacing does to the piece -- it papers over the cracks in the book, which does not always need dwelling upon, and it makes the comedy in the piece far more effective. But here's what it most notably achieves: it massively raises the stakes.
"42nd Street," as first produced on stage by David Merrick with choreography by Gower Champion, is a back-stage musical about a show in a constant state of panic, lurching from one crisis to another as Peggy Sawyer of Allentown, Penn. (Allentown?), played by Caitlin Ehlinger, finally sweats, hoofs and rises up to take her rightful place as the star, figuratively killing off the diva Dorothy Brock, here played by Kaitlin Lawrence.
It's the battle of the (K)Caitlins! But youth wins out, as it always does in Broadway mythology.
By racing along with dizzying rapidity (and I do not exaggerate), Bramble manages to extract a constant feeling of stress out of his young cast, thus mirroring the very themes of the show that their characters are racing to ready by opening night. I hate to go on and on, but this show was a reminder for me of just how many musicals produced in Chicago proceed at about three-quarters, no more, of the ideal speed. Rarely do titles like "42nd Street" bring genuine excitement to those of us who've seen them many times. But this production manages to do precisely that.
More admirably yet, the speedy dash is achieved without blowing past emotional integrity. In Act 2, "42nd Street" really is all about the show's authoritarian but sympathetic director, Julian Marsh, rediscovering his youthful idealism, as tinged with the sadness of no longer being a kid himself. Matthew J. Taylor, a fine young singer, pulled that off exceptionally well.
I've heard the show sung with more sophistication, but I've never seen a "42nd Street" so in sync with what it's really supposed to be about -- the thrill we get, especially as young people, when we come together as a team to work like crazy, under benign and highly competent management, on a big, high-stakes project in which we deeply believe.
Is that your day today? Mine, neither. That's why we all seek out, in our leisure time, idealized shows like "42nd Street," which celebrate human talent, creativity and achievement. All for one! All for a great show!
The young cast of this fine tour should be proud. I hope the producers don't have too many of them stacked in the same hotel room.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@tribpub.com
"42nd Street" -- 3.5 stars
When: Through March 20
Where: Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St.
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Tickets: $19-$85 at 800-775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com
