42nd Street (Musical)
| Musical dates | |
|---|---|
| Title: | 42nd Street |
| Original title: | 42nd Street |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Harry Warren |
| Book: | Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble |
| Lyrics: | Al Dubin, Johnny Mercer and Mort Dixon |
| Literary source: | based on the original 42nd Street movie |
| Original direction: | Gower Champion |
| Premiere: | August 25, 1980 |
| Place of premiere: | Winter Garden Theater on Broadway |
| Roles / people | |
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42nd Street is a musical in two acts, which on the eponymous movie musical 42nd Street of Warner Brothers is based, in turn, on the novel by Bradford Ropes is based from the year 1932nd The music comes from Harry Warren , with titles from other films that he also added. The lyrics are by Al Dubin (additional lyrics by Johnny Mercer and Mort Dixon ), the book written by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble .
The premiere took place on August 25, 1980 in the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway and brought it en suite (including moving to the Majestic Theater in 1981 and then to the St. James Theater in 1987 ) to a total of 3,486 performances. It premiered in London on August 8, 1984 at the Drury Lane Theater and was shown in 1823. Stage Holding AG brought out the German-language premiere on November 21, 2003 at the Apollo Theater in Stuttgart . The German lyrics are from Wolfgang Adenberg , the German dialogues from Ruth Deny .
action
- 1st act
New York City, early 1930s . Julian Marsh, Broadway director who has just lost a lot of money on the stock market, is counting on his big comeback with the new musical production: Pretty Lady . The show's sponsor is Abner Dillon, who is less interested in the show, but more interested in the leading actress Dorothy Brock, who is actually much too old for the role.
The just 18-year-old Peggy Sawyer is late for the casting. Although she still gets the chance to prove her talent, unfortunately all roles have already been taken. Disappointed, Peggy leaves the theater and almost runs Julian Marsh over the heap. Billy Lawlor, the male lead in Pretty Lady , and some of the cast members convince Julian to sign her.
During rehearsals, Julian has ongoing problems with Dorothy and her admirer Abner Dillon, who is jealous and wants to have every love scene deleted. In addition, Dorothy's lover, Pat Denning, is always around, but he is more interested in Peggy than Dorothy. To avoid trouble, Julian orders a gang of thugs to make Pat disappear.
Dorothy is pissed off at Pat's sudden hiding, gets drunk at a Philadelphia preview party, and insults Abner Dillon badly. This then wants to pull his money from the show. It is only with great effort that he can change his mind. In the hustle and bustle of the preview, Peggy collides with Dorothy on stage, breaking her ankle. The performance is canceled and Peggy fired.
- 2nd act
After Dorothy is injured and Peggy is blamed and released, Peggy decides to go back home. Since Dorothy will be out for weeks, Julian plans to cancel the show. But since the rest of the ensemble is worried about his unemployment, they can persuade Julian to bring Peggy back and take on the lead role. Julian can intercept her at the last minute at the train station just before departure and convinces her that she is the only one who can replace Dorothy Brock. Finally, Peggy agrees.
Back on Broadway, Julian and Peggy rehearse tirelessly to the point of exhaustion, as there are only two days left for the premiere. Julian is sure that Peggy can do it and gives her endless courage. Before the premiere, the injured Dorothy, who has now recognized Peggy's talent, visits Peggy in the cloakroom to reconcile with her and wish her good luck. She even gives her tips for the premiere.
Before the premiere, Julian, who has fallen in love with Peggy, encourages her and predicts that she will be a star after the premiere. The performance of Pretty Lady begins and it becomes a huge success. The unknown Peggy becomes a star overnight. After the celebrated premiere, she meets Julian on stage and tells him that she would rather go to the ensemble's party than to the official premiere party. Since she also feels a lot for Julian, she asks him to come there too. He agrees to come later and remains alone in the theater. He thinks of the premiere and the wonderful theater world of New York Broadway. Finally he leaves the theater happy.
music
Speech and music on 42nd Street are balanced. The music barely transports the plot further. Rather, theatrical scenes are ended here with large musical numbers that lead to the next scene. The design is reminiscent of revue operettas of the 1920s and 1930s .
Orchestral line-up
The conspicuous instrumentation by Philip J. Lang, who had already worked on My Fair Lady and Camelot - Am Hofe König Arthur , is not based on the pleasing sound of the Hollywood films of the 1930s. Although the action takes place in 1933, Lang relies on the big band sounds of the 1940s and completely dispenses with the use of strings .
The revised orchestration contains the following musical instruments : Woodwinds (7), Hr (3), Trp (4), Pos (2), Bass Trombone , Schl , Hf , Piano , Git / Banjo , Kb
Songs
- 1st act
- Overture
- Audition
- Young And Healthy (from the original 42nd Street movie)
- Shadow Waltz (from the film Gold Diggers of 1933 )
- Go Into Your Dance (from the 1935 film of the same name , not by Busby Berkeley, but a Warner Brothers film with songs by the authors)
- You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me (from the original 42nd Street movie)
- Getting Out Of Town (probably never appeared in a movie)
- Dames (from the 1934 film of the same name )
- Keep Young And Beautiful (from the 1933 film Roman Scandals )
- Dames - recapitulation
- I Only Have Eyes For You (from the 1934 film Dames )
- We're In The Money (from Gold Diggers of 1933 )
- Act One Finale
- 2nd act
- Entr'Acte
- There's a Sunny Side To Every situation (from the movie Hard to Get by 1938 , not even by Busby Berkeley, but a Warner Brothers film with songs by the authors)
- Lullaby of Broadway (from the film Gold Diggers of 1935 )
- About a Quarter to Nine (from Go Into Your Dance )
- Shuffle Off To Buffalo (from the original 42nd Street movie)
- 42nd Street (from the original 42nd Street movie)
- 42nd Street - recapitulation
- Finale Ultimo
It Must Be June and Pretty Lady from the original film are not used in the musical version.
production
The Broadway production was a great financial risk for David Merrick . After hits like Hello, Dolly! , Gypsy or Promises, Promises he had disappeared from Broadway for a long time, but was able to win over the great director and choreographer Gower Champion and recapture Broadway with 42nd Street .
With the production, however, continued problems: The songs from the original film 42nd Street were not enough. Thus, more songs from the Warner Brothers films by Harry Warren were added. New lyrics had to be written. The book was changed slightly by redirecting Peggy Sawyer's crush on young Billy Lawler to Julian Marsh. To make matters worse, Gower Champion's health deteriorated during rehearsals.
Several previews had to be canceled, but David Merrick called it a huge publicity ploy. At the big premiere on August 25, 1980 in the Winter Garden, however, the audience raved: Standing ovations. David Merrick announced after the big applause that Gower Champion had died that afternoon.
42nd Street captured audiences overnight. This was followed by several US tours, performances in Japan , Canada , Australia and finally a major European tour with the original Broadway ensemble with Elizabeth Allen (Dorothy Brock) and Michael Dantuono (Julian Marsh) in the leading roles.
Rod
- Music: Harry Warren
- Lyrics: Al Dubin
- Additional lyrics: Johnny Mercer and Mort Dixon
- Script: Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble (based on the original 42nd Street )
- Stage design: Robin Wagner
- Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge
- Musical director: John Lesko
- Orchestration: Philip J. Lang
- Production: David Merrick
- Choreography and direction: Gower Champion
Performances (selection)
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- August 25, 1980 - January 8, 1989: 3,486 performances on New York's Broadway (first Winter Garden Theater , then Majestic Theater and finally St. James Theater ).
- Aug 25, 1980 - March 29, 1981: Winter Garden Theater
- Mar. 30, 1981 - April 5, 1987: Majestic Theater
- April 7, 1987 - January 8, 1989: St. James Theater
- August 8, 1984 - January 7, 1989: Theater Royal, Drury Lane , London (1823 performances).
- May 2, 2001 (31 previews as of April 4, 2001) - January 2, 2005: Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now Lyric Theater), New York City (1,524 performances).
- November 21, 2003 - December 31, 2004: Apollo Theater , Stuttgart.
- April 4, 2017 (previews from March 20, 2017) - January 5, 2019: Theater Royal, Drury Lane , London.
actor
Leading actor in the world premiere
(in order of appearance, Broadway 1980)
- Danny Carroll (Andy Lee)
- Robert Colston (Oscar)
- Stan Page (Mac)
- Karan Prunczik (Annie)
- Carole Cook (Maggie Jones)
- Joseph Bova (Bert Barry)
- Lee Roy Reams (Billy Lawler)
- Wanda Richert (Peggy Sawyer)
- Ginny King (Lorraine)
- Jeri Kansas (Phyllis)
- Jerry Orbach (Julian Marsh)
- Tammy Grimes (Dorothy Brock)
- Don Crabtee (Abner Dillon)
- James Congdon (Pat Denning)
- Stan Page, Ron Schwinn (Thugs)
- Stan Page (Doctor)
- Ensemble:
- Carole Banninger, Steve Belin, Gail Benedict, Robin Black, Joel Blum, Mary Cadorette, Ronny DeVito, Denise DiRenzo, Mark Dovey, Rob Draper, Brandt Edwars, Jon Engstrom, Sharon Ferrol, Cathy Greco, Dawn Herbert, Christine Jacobsen, Jen Kansas , Ginny King, Terri Ann Kundrat, Shan Martin, Beth McVey, Maureen Mellon, Sandra Menhart, Bill Nabel, Tony Parise, Don Percassi, Lorraine Person, Rick Pessagno, Jean Preece, Lars Rosager, Linda Sabatelli, Ron Schwinn, Maryellen Scilla, Yveline Semeria, Alison Sherve, Robin Stephens, David Storey and Karen Tarnburrelli
Stuttgart, Apollo Theater
- Peggy Sawyer: Karin Seyfried
- Billy Lawlor: Jens Janke
- Dorothy Brock: Isabel Dörfler
- Julian Marsh: Kevin Tarte
- Maggie Jones: Sabine Maria Reiss
- Bert Barry: Axel Weidemann
- Abner Dillon: Daniel Coninx
- Andy Lee: Wolf Wrobel
- Pat Denning: Andreas Lichtenberger
- Mac: Christoph Wettstein
- Oscar: Tobias Vogt
- Anytime Annie: Maryanne Kelly
West End Revival, London 2017
(in order of mention on the official cast list)
- Dorothy Brock: Sheena Easton (understudy: CJ Johnson)
- Julian Marsh: Tom Lister
- Peggy Sawyer: Clare Halse
- Billy Lawlor: Stuart Neal
- Maggie Jones: Jasna Ivir
- Bert Barry: Christopher Howell
- Pat Denning: Norman Bowman
- Andy Lee: Graeme Henderson
- Abner Dillon: Mark McKerracher / Bruce Montague
- Mac / Doc / Thug: Sam Murphy
- Annie: Emma Caffrey
- Phyllis: Clare Rickard
- Lorraine: Ella Martine
- Oscar: Paul Knight
- Ensemble: Josh Andrews, Gabrielle Cocca, Kirsty Fuller, Kristen Gaetz, Kate Ivory Jordan, Martin McCarthy, Christina Shand, Charlotte Anne Steen, Zac Watts, Greg Bernstein, Philip Bertioli, Sara Bispham, Ronan Burns, Sophie Camble, Freddie Clements, Joel Cooper, Adam Denman, Lisa Dent, Jack Evans, Charlene Ford, Katie Fox, Courtney George, Luke George, Ryan Gover, Leah Harris, Victoria Hay, Rebecca Herszenhorn, Emma Johnson, Jessica Keable, Jasmine Kerr, Annie Kitchen, Gabrielle Lewis- Dodson, Dylan Mason, Sam Murphy, Eddie Myles, Millie O'Connell, Billie Kay, Katharine Pearson, Katy Riches, Zoe Rogers, Dawnita Smith, Daisy Steere, Karli Vale
Awards
42nd Street won Tony Awards in the following categories:
- Best Choreography (Gower Champion)
- Best Musical (David Merrick)
In addition, 42nd Street was nominated for the Tony in the following categories:
- Best Supporting Actor in a Musical (Lee Roy Reams)
- Best Supporting Actress in a Musical (Wanda Richert)
- Best music libretto (Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble)
- Best Costumes (Theoni V. Aldredge)
- Best Musical Director (Gower Champion)
- Best lighting design (Tharon Musser)
The musical has also won a Theater World Award and several Drama Desk Awards .
The London production of 1984 as Best Musical at the Evening Standard Award and a Best New Musical with the Laurence Olivier Award excellent.
The 2001 Broadway revival also received numerous awards, including a. with the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical and the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical .
Sound carrier
- Original Cast Recording, Broadway, 1980
- Australian Cast Recording, 1989
- Dutch Cast Recording, 2000
- Revival Cast Recording, Broadway, 2001
Web links
- Official website of the 2017 London Revival
- 42nd Street on the Internet Broadway Database (IBDb)
- 42nd Street in the Guide to Musical Theater
- 42nd Street on Musical Heaven
- Content of the musical 42nd Street
- Official trailer for the 2017 London Revival