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Muny kicks off 2009 season with solid dancing, singing, even some melancholy…how far have we come from (or returned to) ‘hard times’?  A spirit-lifting reminder of how music and theater can restore us

By Daniel Hines
Publisher, TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com

By kicking off its 91^st season with ‘42^nd Street’, the St. Louis Muny might have performed a public service. 

After all, it is a ‘back to the future’ theme when banks were failing, music was scarce, people were losing their homes and jobs, and hard times prevailed.  No, I’m not talking about today, but during the Great Depression. And, just as people prevailed in that era, ‘42^nd Street’ reminds us that we shall do so again. 

An associate of mine once remarked that the reason that Americans didn’t sink into the gutter of fascism during the Great Depression was in large part due to the ability of the entertainment industry to allow us to both laugh at ourselves and to appeal to our better instincts.  That’s the secret of ‘42^nd Street.’

The story line is an old one: Small-town girl goes to Broadway, and apparently all her brains lie in her feet.  A bit of a loveable airhead, she dances her way into the show within a show (‘Pretty Girl’), and although she is a tremendous tap dancer, she can’t follow simple choreography.  Then on opening night, she crashes into the ‘star’ of ‘Pretty Girl’, but, by golly the show must go on, and as our country girl prepares to leave New York to return to Allentown, PA forever, the cast of ‘Pretty Girl’ turns up and convinces her that only she can save the show.  Does she do it? Of course!

This show is a blend of strong talent throughout the major characters, but it is the dancing that steals the show. 

 For me, Billy Lawlor, played by Todd Lattimore, was the highlight of the evening.  This guy can dance…and dance…and dance.  His tapping ability is outstanding, but he delivers it with a strong sense of style that leaves you wanting more.

Likewise,  Peggy Sawyer, played by Shannon M. O’Bryan is a candidate for one of those ATT internet commercials about the fastest (hands in Boxing, serve in Tennis) because she has what have to the fastest feet I’ve seen on a tapper.  And, she adds just the right touch to playing the small town girl blinded by the lights of Broadway.

The show also has a couple of scene stealers—Patti Mariano is hilarious as Maggie Jones and her ‘Keep Young and Beautiful’ number offers an extra treat with the St. Louis Stutters, all older but beautiful and talented dancers, a use of a local St. Louis flavor that the Muny does so well.

John Freimann, who plays the ‘Angel’ that is bankrolling ‘Pretty Girls’ is always one of my favorites.  He is just a funny guy.

Dee Hoty is Dorothy Brock, the miscast fading star on whom show Producer Julian Marsh, played by Robert Cuccioli, is staking his hopes for a much-needed hit.  Hoty does an excellent job of displaying the vanities of show-business stereotypes, but who also has a more sensitive side underneath a crass exterior.  Cuccioili is especially strong as the ‘glue’ that must guide ‘Pretty Girl’ from a cash-strapped startup to the hoped-for success, which, of course, it will become.

But, back to the dancing.  Although we had seen the number before, one of our favorite numbers—and one which is more appropriate today than perhaps anytime since The Great Depression—is ‘We’re In the Money,’ an elaborate production where finding a dime is reason for a celebration. 

The show is, of course, a fantasy—or is it?  In a time when people are losing homes, living in tent cities, losing jobs, ‘42^nd Street’ and .  The Muny has done with with grace and style for 90 years, and by so doing, it has provide entertainment that is a release for all of us.