42nd street shuffle off to buffalo3/26/2023 Many of the songs come from the movie version, with hits from other Warren/Dubin movie musicals from the ‘30s, such as “We’re in the Money” from “Gold Diggers of 1933.” The music in “42nd Street” consists of tunes by Harry Warren with lyrics by Al Dubin. Clayton Cornelious (”Ain’t Too Proud”) plays the part. “This is scaled back.”īesides a smaller dance ensemble, Skinner has combined two characters - the composer character Bert Barry and an onstage rehearsal pianist. “You can’t do 50 dancers at the Goodspeed,” he says. In fact, the Goodspeed is the smallest theater Skinner has ever staged the show. Given that “42nd Street” is a step up for the Goodspeed right now size-wise, it is interesting that Skinner sees it as a smaller production than he’s used to. 6 and features at least one full-blown, full-cast song-and-dance routine with the showstopper, “Lullabye of Broadway.” “42 Street” brings back the big ensemble through Nov. This year, “Cabaret” and “Anne of Green Gables” had fairly robust casts of 16 performers each, but neither had spectacular dance numbers on a scale with Goodspeed shows like 2019′s “The Will Rogers Follies” 2017′s “Oklahoma” or 2016′s “Anything Goes,” which had casts of 20 or more and full-cast dance numbers. When indoor performances started again at the Opera House in September 2021, the first show back - ”A Grand Night for Singing” - had only five people in it. The 2021 season mostly consisted of concerts and scaled-down musicals performed in a tent on the Goodspeed lawn. The Goodspeed’s entire 2020 season was canceled. It is a tradition stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. I really love doing something full of joy.With boisterous, brassy, dance-happy tunes like “We’re in the Money,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” and “You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me,” the musical “42nd Street” is in a grand tradition of big splashy song-and-dance spectacles at the Goodspeed Opera House. Overall, he’s appreciating being able to mold a brighter, less brittle, more energetic Julian Marsh. There’s a lot of taking off my jacket or loosening tie.” “I wear a snappy three-piece Navy suit with stripes. “I barely have any time between my scenes,” he says. Von Essen says that unlike most of the rest of the “42nd Street” cast, he barely has to dance in the show and also has hardly any costume changes. He was also in a show that means a lot in Connecticut: When he took over as Gleb in the Broadway production of “Anastasia,” most of that show’s cast was still the same as it had been for its pre-Broadway shakedown at Hartford Stage. In 2001, he co-starred as one of the twin brothers in “Blood Brothers” at Downtown Cabaret Theatre in Bridgeport. He played the title role in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s summer series in 1999, an experience he says helped him land the opportunity to understudy Jesus in the 2000 Broadway revival of the rock opera. Von Essen has a few previous Connecticut credits. His shift to more adult roles has been going well, von Essen says. Skinner says he and von Essen have shaped a Julian Marsh who isn’t defined by substance abuse or nervous breakdowns, “just the stress of needing to be back on top.” The real love story in this show is about theater, why we all do this as a career.” This is a more dashing Julian Marsh, one who shares my own passion for theater.’ They bought it. I came in and said ‘I can’t transform myself. He still had an image of me as a juvenile lead. When he auditioned for the role, von Essen - known for young romantic roles like Henri in “An American in Paris” - says “I may have surprised Randy a little. He wants to bring back a sensitivity and remind us of how Julian fell in love with the industry in the first place.” In terms of his portrayal of Julian Marsh, von Essen says Skinner “doesn’t want a coarse or rough Julian. “He’s the only one who has permission to make changes to it.” Von Essen defers a lot of questions about the legacy of “42nd Street” to Skinner.
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