“42nd Street” musical at the Norris Theatre
Director Christine Negherbon, center, with Ashley Ruth Jones as Peggy Sawyer and Kevin Bailey as Julian Marsh. PhotoChasing those Broadway Dreams “42nd Street” opens Friday at the Norris Theatre Depending on the medium, works of art achieve “classic” status after varying amounts of time. Classic rock might be applied to hit songs from the 1970s, where as classic literature more often than not refers to folks like Jane Austen or Mark Twain. A classic musical, on the other hand, seems to imply one from the 1950s or early ‘60s, like “Carousel,” “My Fair Lady,” or “Oklahoma!” But then there’s “42nd Street,” a relative newcomer in some respects (it opened on Broadway in 1980), which feels as if it’s been around forever. An “instant classic” is not a term many people like, but was “42nd Street” ever anything but that? One reason why is through its use of music that Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote for movie musicals in the 1930s. The title song of “42nd Street” was composed for the 1932 film of the same name, and “We’re in the Money” first appeared in “The Gold Diggers” of 1933. But the show succeeds because it is truly a spectacle with flashy dancing and splashy sets, as well as a…
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