When the tap routines are in full flight and luminous ingenue Nicole-Lily Baisden is onstage, this love letter to Depression-era Broadway is a pure pleasure. The narrative filler between the big numbers, and some surprising misfires from the star cast, are less thrilling. Jonathan Church’s production is an odd mix of big-budget glitz and touring-show mediocrity. It can shift you from elation to boredom and back again within minutes. Luckily, elation mostly wins.
This show was always a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster. In 1980, writers Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble adapted the Busby Berkeley-choreographed 1933 film 42nd Street, augmenting the soundtrack of Harry Warren and Al Dubin with numbers they wrote for other movies, and a few bits and bobs from elsewhere. Their stage version won two Tony awards including Best Musical but its director-choreographer Gower Champion died on opening night.
