Ruthie Henshall as Dorothy Brock in Mirvish Productions' 42nd Street.Johan Persson/Mirvish
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- Title: 42nd Street
- Music by: Harry Warren
- Lyrics by: Al Dubin
- Book by: Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble
- Director: Jonathan Church
- Choreographer: Bill Deamer
- Actors: Ruthie Henshall, Adam Garcia, Josefina Gabrielle, Nicole-Lily Baisden
- Company: Mirvish Productions
- Venue: Princess of Wales Theatre
- City: Toronto
- Year: To Jan. 21, 2024
My companion for the opening night of 42nd Street at the Princess of Wales Theatre couldn’t wait to see the show. “It will lift my spirits,” she declared. Indeed. In these dark, divisive times, we could all use some bright, benign escapism. And as mood boosters go, what better choice than that upbeat 1980s Broadway musical, based on a 1930s movie classic – itself a prime example of Hollywood’s Depression-era escapist fare?
Well, I suppose if you’re allergic to large doses of tap dancing and immune to the antique charm of mildly risqué lyrics like “You go home and get your panties, I’ll go home and get my scanties,” you may want to give it a pass. But otherwise, it’s hard not to get swept up in the cheerful exuberance of this enjoyable British revival, making its North American debut following a U.K. tour – including a London run at Sadler’s Wells – earlier this year.
Even if you’ve never seen the musical or the movie, you know the plot – it’s a wellspring of showbiz clichés. Famous director in need of a smash success launches a big new Broadway show headlined by a veteran leading lady. Said leading lady breaks her ankle before opening night. Director takes a chance and plucks a talented kid from the chorus line to replace her. As the curtain is about to rise, he sends her onstage with this deathless line: “You’re going out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!”
The plot is just an excuse for the song and dance. The songs are by old-time hitmakers Harry Warren and Al Dubin and include, not just their tunes for the seminal 1933 Warner Bros. film, but others written for the string of 1930s Warner musicals that it spawned. Standards like We’re in the Money, Lullaby of Broadway and that panties/scanties gem, Shuffle Off to Buffalo – to name only a few.
The dances were created by legendary director-choreographer Gower Champion, in what proved to be his last hurrah – he died the same day that 42nd Street opened on Broadway in 1980. For this revival, they’ve been pleasingly replicated and reconceived by Bill Deamer. My only regret is that, perhaps as a result of a smaller company, he hasn’t been able to fully recreate Dames/Keep Young and Beautiful as an homage to the kaleidoscopic numbers of the original film’s choreographer, Busby Berkeley.
This production is helmed by Jonathan Church, whose version of Singin’ in the Rain played Toronto last season, and again his approach is at once both reverent and fresh. He’s helped by actors who attack their stereotypical roles with relish.
As Dorothy Brock, the veteran star, Ruthie Henshall – herself a West End vet – has a fine old time embodying your classic difficult diva. With her throaty voice and caustic delivery, she could well be channelling Bette Davis’s Margo Channing from that later showbiz fable, All About Eve. Playing Peggy Sawyer, the newcomer who supplants her, Nicole-Lily Baisden has a spotlight-catching smile and a mix of charming naiveté and mad tap-dancing skills. When she finally shines forth as a star, you’ll be thinking Dorothy Dandridge.
In keeping with the old-movie memories, it would be amusing if Adam Garcia’s Julian Marsh, the dictatorial director, was an over-the-top tyrant like John Barrymore’s Oscar Jaffe in Twentieth Century. Instead, taskmaster aside, he’s just a decent guy with a soft, not to say romantic, spot for Peggy. Her other potential lover is Dorothy’s leading man, Billy Lawlor, the young “tenor with base intentions,” a role shared in this production by Olly Christopher and Sam Lips. Christopher played the part on opening night and, whatever his intentions, his powerful tenor is a vocal scene-stealer.
A delightfully raucous Josefina Gabrielle and a goofy Michael Matus have fun as the writer-producers of Marsh’s show, Pretty Lady, who also serve as its comic relief. Just as you’re about to cringe at Keep Young and Beautiful, featuring a parade of Ziegfeld-style chorines, they undercut it with irony, popping up to warble the lyrics as an old-and-ugly couple.
If we’re in Broadway’s pretty-girl era, exemplified by Ziegfeld & Co., we’re also continually reminded of the Depression. Marsh is staging his show to recoup his losses following the Wall Street crash. His company is depending on it for a steady paycheque. Bread lines and apple sellers are referenced. Every other song is either in praise of money (We’re in the Money, With Plenty of Money and You) or about happily making do without it (There’s a Sunny Side to Ev’ry Situation).
The biggest nod to the grittier side of the times comes in the title-song finale, an ode to Broadway à la Damon Runyon, staged as an urban ballet in hues of red and blue and ending in a gangland slaying. (The number in the original film is even darker.) But before we know it, we’re back in that heaven of sparkling costumes (by Robert Jones, who also designed the art-deco sets), sparkling talents (the whole ensemble) and the irresistible rhythm of tapping feet.
How did my companion feel as we exited the theatre? “Exhilarated,” she said. Of course. As an antidepressant, 42nd Street worked in the 1930s, in the 1980s, and it still works today.
In the interest of consistency across all critics’ reviews, The Globe has eliminated its star-rating system in film and theatre to align with coverage of music, books, visual arts and dance. Instead, works of excellence will be noted with a critic’s pick designation across all coverage. (Television reviews, typically based on an incomplete season, are exempt.)