APA’s dancing feet to tap on ‘42nd Street’ tonight

THEATER

“You’re going out there a chorus girl, but you’ve got to come back a

star.”

It’s been more than 70 years since Warner Baxter admonished Ruby

Keeler thusly in that mother of all show business-themed movie

musicals, “42nd Street,” but that flick inspired a plethora of

successors and eventually became a hit stage production in its own

right.

The latter version -- faithfully set in 1933, the year the movie

was released -- arrives tonight in the Huntington Beach High School

auditorium as a project of the Academy for the Performing Arts, and

audiences are invited to “come and meet those dancing feet.”

For the uninitiated, “42nd Street” concerns a new Broadway show

called “Pretty Lady,” being staged by showbiz legend Julian March

(the Baxter role). Off the bus from Allentown, Pa., steps perky young

Peggy Sawyer (the Keeler character), who joins the chorus and finds

herself suddenly thrust into the spotlight when the leading lady

breaks her ankle.

With 36 hours to learn 25 pages, six songs and 10 dance numbers,

Peggy has a seemingly impossible task. But, of course, she comes

through and the show is a fabulous hit -- which, since the show is

older than most readers, shouldn’t be seen as giving away the plot.

“42nd Street” was revived on Broadway three years ago with its

classic score intact -- including such numbers as “Shuffle Off to

Buffalo,” “You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me,” “We’re in the

Money,” “I Only Have Eyes for You” and “Lullaby of Broadway.” More

seasoned audiences, in particular, will get a kick out of this show.

It’s somewhat of an arduous assignment for the APA, a production

that requires expertise from a number of artistic disciplines.

Director Tim Nelson and choreographer Diane Makas-Weber had some 500

young candidates to choose from, and have assembled a troupe of

actors, dancers, musicians and technical crew members whom they trust

will recreate that old stage magic. Makas-Weber has recreated the

complicated ensemble choreography originally staged in the movie by

Busby Berkeley and in the first Broadway production by Gower

Champion.

Alex Bartosh will portray director Julian Marsh in the APA

production, while Katie Ulrich has been cast as the exuberant

ingenue, Peggy Sawyer. Matthew Bartosh takes the romantic lead of

Billy Lawlor, Elaine Hayhurst will enact the prima donna star Dorothy

Brock and Anthony Page is the show’s dance director.

The opening scene is calculated to draw audience appreciation, as

over 100 dancing feet will tap in unison in an audition sequence

reminiscent of a later showbiz musical, “A Chorus Line.”

“42nd Street” will play tonight and Saturday, and Oct. 28, 29 and

30, at 7:30 p.m. with matinees Sunday and Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. in the

HBHS Theater, 1905 Main St., Huntington Beach. Tickets are $15 for

general admission, with students and senior citizens admitted for

$12.

Reservations for the APA production are being taken at (714)

536-2514, ext. 4025.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.