We love spectacle on stage. For us, the battles in HENRY V will forever trump the seemingly endless yammering of WAITING FOR GODOT. So when Pioneer Theatre's recent production of 42nd Street started with 20 dancers slamming out the same tap step simultaneously, we were in heaven!
And although some of the students in the Playwrights' Laboratory complained at the sappy script, they were countered by others who pointed out that there has to be a reason this story has floated across the American stage for almost 80 years. The play lives on its spectacle.
Thanks to Charles Morey's direction, Kevin Alberts' costumes, George Maxwell's sets, and Patti D'Beck's choreography for the reminder that not every play has to enlighten or save the world--that the word "play" has more than one meaning.
Photo: Lea Kohl and Jeffrey Pew star in Pioneer Theatre Company's production of the Tony Award-winning "42nd Street." (Tom Smart, Deseret News)
It was like eating icing straight from the tub - which is fun to do every now and then.
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