‘42nd Street’ taps its way from Broadway to Coeur d’Alene

Aspire Community Theater is opening its 2018-19 season with “42nd Street,” a veritable song-and-dance extravaganza named for a New York City street full of performance venues.

“It’s a backstage musical,” said Callie Cabe, the show director. “It covers the life of a performer, so a lot of the scenes are backstage, behind the scenes, a lot of rehearsal scenes, some days they go right, some days they don’t. That thrill of rehearsing it and finally putting it on the stage and getting the audience’s applause. It’s a perfect depiction of what it takes to put a musical on stage.”

Set in the early ’30s, “42nd Street” is a Broadway show about a Broadway show, based on the Bradford Ropes novel and the 1933 film adaptation of the same name.

Peggy Sawyer (Kiara Klinkefus), just arrived on the Broadway scene, stumbles into the audition circuit and falls straight into the path of Dorothy Brock (Amy D’Orazi), the aging prima donna. A comic rivalry breaks out. Dorothy, the current leading lady of a musical set to premiere is injured and Peggy, the reluctant understudy, is persuaded to go on in her place with just two days to learn the role.

“Dorothy’s basically been around the block as far as the industry goes,” D’Orazi said. “Probably a lot of the girls’ idol. The funny part is that she’s a seasoned performer but she’s not a dancer. She’s been put in this fabulous show but she can’t dance well.”

Barring Dorothy, the rest of the cast dances for just about the whole show. “42nd Street” is full of tap routines and musical numbers like “Lullaby of Broadway” and “We’re In The Money” that you’ll likely be humming all the way home.

“It’s an upbeat, classic, beautiful show and there’s been so much hard work and dedication poured into it,” D’Orazi said. “It’s a big dance show. That requires a lot of work and patience and luckily everyone is very talented and that will show on stage.”

And, really, who cares if there’s a plot or not when they’ve got a lot of dance?