Review: Manatee Players kick off season with a splashy ‘42nd Street’

Familiarity is supposed to breed contempt. “42nd Street,” and the new production of the classic musical that opened Thursday at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, belies that bromide.

Even when it premiered in 1980, in a fabled production directed by Gower Champion, “42nd Street” was deliberately designed to be a throwback. It was meant to be a celebration of its own form, the musical comedy, and it turned out to be one of the last big musical comedy hits on Broadway before the spectacular but dreary musicals of Andrew Lloyd-Webber and his followers took over for a decade or so.

The opening leads to about two-and-half hours of truly wonderful songs (you know most of them, but the ones you don’t are just as much fun), great performances from everyone from the leads to the chorus, countless gorgeous costumes and sets that change with seemingly impossible quickness, and a deliberately light but thoroughly delightful evening of theater.

The story, which comes from the 1933 musical on which the stage show is based, is such a classic that it has become almost a cliche: A small town girl comes to New York, hoping to become a Broadway star. She arrives late for the auditions for the biggest musical of the year, but ends up in the chorus through a couple of flukes, and then takes over the lead when the aging leading lady is injured. The musical’s a hit, the girl’s star, etc.

The two female leads, Manatee Players regulars Sarah Cassidy (as Peggy, the ingenue) and Michelle Anaya (as Dorothy, the fading star) deliver beautiful performances, both with their singing and their acting. Alan Tulin, as the director of the musical-within-the musical, is a solid actor but he’s a revelation when he finally gets to sing a song, “Lullaby of Broadway,” halfway through the second act. Kyle Anne Lacterosa is a fun to watch and a joy to listen to as Maggie Jones. On opening night, Brian Chunn, another Manatee players go-to guy, wasn’t as strong vocally as he usually is, but his acting and dancing were as impressive as always.

The dancing is the real star of the show, and the cast pulls off the almost non-stop tap numbers with a level of precision and athleticism that’s rarely seen in community theater, and seldom surpassed in professional theater. Cassidy is the focus of a lot of the dance numbers, and it’s hard to find fault with her performances.

The performances, directed and choreographed by Rick Kerby, are so much fun to watch that you might forget to notice the sets, by Michael Newton Brown, the costumes by Becky Evans, and the lights by Joesph P. Oshry. But they’re all worth noting. This is a visually gorgeous production in every way.

It’s vocally gorgeous, too, with lots of beautiful harmonies, courtesy of musical director Rick Bogner.

Bogner’s small pit band (two keyboards, reeds, trumpet and percussion) sounds kind of thin, and there’s one dance number, an attempt to emulate one of Busby Berekely dance numbers shot from above for a kaleidoscopic effect, that simply doesn’t work at all. But the band plays well and that dance number is brief, so little damage is done.

People who attend Manatee Players performances regularly will appreciate a change this year. The company’s programs have seemed amateurish, given the level of technical and artistic excellence of the shows. Now there’s a single glossy, full-color program, with a black-and-white insert for each show. The printing on the insert is noticeably crisper than that of the old programs, and the photographs of the cast members look a lot sharper. It’s a small change, and it’s kind of surprising how much such a small a tweak brightens the theater experience.

Details: Through Aug. 28, Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W., Bradenton. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $27-$37. 941-748-5875, manateeperformingartscenter.com.

This story was originally published August 12, 2016 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Review: Manatee Players kick off season with a splashy ‘42nd Street’."