“42nd Street” musical at the Norris Theatre

Director Christine Negherbon, center, with Ashley Ruth Jones as Peggy Sawyer and Kevin Bailey as Julian Marsh. Photo

Director Christine Negherbon, center, with Ashley Ruth Jones as Peggy Sawyer and Kevin Bailey as Julian Marsh. Photo

Chasing 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 solid, universal theme about chasing one’s dreams and, at least in this case, overcoming adversity to have that redeeming moment in the sun.
The Norris Theatre in Rolling Hills Estates is presenting “42nd Street” for three weekends, beginning this Friday. Christine Negherbon is the director, and among the leads are Ashley Ruth Jones as Peggy Sawyer and Kevin Bailey as Julian Marsh. They sat down to talk about the show, what it means to them, and why they felt they were meant to do it.

Broadway Dreams
Ashley Ruth Jones is the centerpiece of “42nd Street.” As Peggy Sawyer, she comes to New York from a small town and after auditioning for a new musical lands a minor role in the chorus. However, she accidentally trips the show’s big star, and is dismissed. But later, given another chance by the tough director Julian Marsh, Peggy delivers… and a star is born.

Kevin Bailey as Julian Marsh and Ashley Ruth Jones as Peggy Sawyer. Photo courtesy of the Norris Theatre

Jones is originally from Valencia, best known for Magic Mountain rather than for Broadway talent, but that could change. She started tap dancing at age seven, and after entering high school she joined the choir. Only in her senior year did she appear onstage, in a play, but then attended UCLA to study musical theater.
Although her resume is fairly short, Jones performed the role of Peggy Sawyer two years ago for San Diego Musical Theatre. While it’s the same show, there are differences.
“In this production we’re using the original choreography by Gower Champion,” she says. “The last production modified it slightly, so it’s been different dance steps to learn.”
But she’s already used to whatever demands that choreography imposes.
“I’ve done some productions of ‘A Chorus Line,’ one at the Hollywood Bowl. I did ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ at Musical Theatre West. That’s also a big tap show.”
If Jones is a triple-threat (acting, singing, dancing), Kevin Bailey is merely a double-threat: He leaves the dancing to others.
Unlike Jones, this is Bailey’s first stab at “42nd Street,” even though he’s been thoroughly immersed in plays and musicals since at least the 1990s. He performed in “Annie Get Your Gun” for two-and-a-half years and in “The Lion King” for about the same amount of time.
Jones is asked, Have you done any shows as long as that?
“N-o-o-o.”
“She’s so young,” Bailey says with a laugh. “She would have had to have started when she was like two.”
“The longest I’ve done is a month out here, regionally,” she replies.
“She’s just a couple of years out of college,” Bailey adds. “Her giant Broadway star is (still) ahead of her.”
The shows that Bailey has been in have taken him all over the country. He’s originally from Rochester, New York, and after getting his MFA from the University of Virginia he moved back to New York in 1986. Ten years later, however, lured in part by the weather, he set down new roots in California, and currently resides in Hollywood.
More to the point, Bailey was dazzled by “42nd Street” during its initial run in New York.
“The amazing thing about ‘42nd Street,’ it’s a classic book musical in its form, but it’s also almost the best of its form. The whole structure is a big, classic, dance musical but with equally big book scenes, which is not common today, if they even have dialogue in half the musicals they do today.
“When I saw it in ‘81,” he continues, “not being a dancer I was like, ‘There’s a show I’ll never do.’ And then, when the revival was back on Broadway, a handful of years ago, I thought, ‘Oh no, I’m going to do this show because that part of Julian Marsh is perfect for me. I just need to age a couple of years.’ That’s when it really went on my bucket list.”
And it got on Bailey’s bucket list “because it is a play about the theater,” and despite the era in which it’s set that alone makes it ever-relevant.
Bailey then recites the iconic line that Julian Marsh tells Peggy Sawyer: “You’re going out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!” adding, “It’s what we all dream of in our business. We have Broadway dreams. Without being simplistic, it’s a very romantic musical because of those ideals.”

Gower Champion’s special touch
It’s at this point that Christine Negherbon, young children in tow, enters the room. Negherbon says she’s been in or around “42nd Street” for 20 years, and when she was 24 did a European tour… as Peggy Sawyer. She’s performed in the role three times, and now, in her fourth production, she’s wearing the director’s hat.
And that must be a very different experience?
Very much so. Negherbon says she had a lot to discover, “Because Peggy is often downstage and in front and there’s a whole number happening behind her, and I had not idea of half the stuff that was going on back there.” Now, for the first time, she’s had to cast her discerning eye over the entire work, which is a challenge but “it’s been wonderful to dig into that.”
As Jones mentioned earlier, this production sticks with Gower Champion’s original choreography.
“I wouldn’t dare try to put my own stamp on this,” Negherbon says. “I think Gower Champion’s choreography is just spot-on. It was ahead of its time.”
Bailey points out the time capsule aspect of the show when the original is adhered to.
“This is the way the creators conceived of this musical,” he says, “with this brilliant director-choreographer in American theater history. That’s why this is great; it’s phenomenal, so let’s show that.”
“It also still stands up in today’s society,” Jones adds, “and it doesn’t even seem dated; it just seems like a period piece. And the thing is, this is Gower Champion’s last work, he never created anything after this.”
In one of those sobering quirks of fate, Gower Champion died the very morning the show opened on Broadway. He was 61. The cast wasn’t told until after the performance.
“He had many successes,” Bailey says, “but arguably this is his greatest success. But that’s part of the lore and legend and the romance of the whole thing; and he gave it up on top of his greatest work.”
And as a performer, Jones says, “doing the choreography that was set by Gower Champion, you can just feel that you’re a part of the legacy. It’s so special to learn and perform, and especially since the last time (in San Diego) I didn’t have that experience.”

The legacy lives on
“It’s held a special place in my life for many years,” Negherbon says. “It’s just such an iconic show. I did a tap dance to it when I was a little kid… Peggy Sawyer lives out the dream that everybody has.
“The first dream,” she continues, “being that you get to go to New York and you get cast in the big production that you’re dreaming of. Then by chance, by a miracle, end up getting to be the lead in it, and be the star. And you can successfully go out on stage, perform it, do it… It has happened in real life a couple of times for people, but it’s such dreams that are really special.
“And every time I’ve done it I’ve gotten the opportunity to do it with someone who was part of the original company, and then to to it and experience the history of musical theater with them. In this show it’s Sandy (Sandy Bainum plays Dorothy Brock, the aging diva whom Peggy Sawyer replaces). It’s a wonderful, full-circle experience.”
“That’s one more level to the romance of this show,” Bailey says, “but in a more immediate way because there’s history that’s literally, figuratively passed on.”
Now, here’s a strange thing that cast members and directors rarely say to a journalist, which is that they felt that they were meant to do the show, and this show in particular.
In Negherbon’s case, she says, “I’m a big believer in putting out in the universe what you want. And so when I saw that (“42nd Street”) was being done, I kind of said it out loud, ‘I’m gonna do that show. I want to direct or choreograph, however they need me; I would be happy to be a part of it.’”
On Tuesday evenings, Negherbon teaches at the nearby conservatory, and three minutes later the show’s producer, Christopher Gilbert, came around the corner and asked if she was Christine Negherbon. After she answered (apparently in the affirmative), he said, “I need to talk to you about ‘42nd Street.’” To herself, Negherbon said: Of course you do.
“It’s like luck meets opportunity at the same time.”
Bailey felt something similar:
“Before I auditioned I was like, I want this job. Not that you don’t want every job, but there are some that mean more when you go in. It was like, ‘No, no, I want to be in this job, in this community, right now.’”
“When we had our meet and greet with the cast,” Negherbon says, “75 percent of the cast was like ‘This is the show I’ve always wanted to do.’ This was on their bucket list.”
“If you’re a dancer,” Jones says, “this is the show that everyone wants to do.”
I’m impressed, even taken aback, by that almost supranormal sense that’s united everyone, as if the waters of Fate and Destiny have been parted in order to bring them all together. There’s little a writer can add, except, Maybe this is the article I’ve always wanted to write. One never knows, it might well be true.
42nd Street opens Friday at the Norris Theatre, 27570 Norris Center Drive, Rolling Hills Estates. Performances, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., through May 13. Tickets, $30 to $80. Call (310) 544-0403 or go to palosverdesperformingarts.com. ER

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