[title of show] Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 1
[title of show] Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 1
[title of show] Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 1
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[<strong>title</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>show</strong>]<br />
MUSICALS/PLAYS<br />
MUSICALS ABOUT MUSICALS<br />
(AND PLAYS ABOUT PLAYS)<br />
The tradition <strong>of</strong> self-referential theatre pieces is a long and<br />
varied one. <strong>Play</strong>wrights and authors are sometimes so in<br />
love with the theatre that it becomes the most fascinating subject for<br />
their creative efforts. <strong>Theatre</strong> stories about the theatre are wonderful<br />
insights into the backstage milieu and a rare chance for an audience<br />
to see what the rehearsal process <strong>of</strong>ten looks like, leading up to an<br />
Opening Night. Following is a decidedly incomplete list <strong>of</strong> musicals<br />
about producing (and performing) musicals and plays about the<br />
behind-the-scenes world <strong>of</strong> plays.<br />
DID YOU KNOW..?<br />
that [<strong>title</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>show</strong>] is not<br />
the only musical ever<br />
written about musicals?<br />
42nd Street<br />
Perhaps the ultimate musical about a musical, 42nd Street is based<br />
on the 1933 film <strong>of</strong> the same name. It starred Ruby Keeler as Peggy,<br />
a young girl who arrives in the Big Apple, determined to make it<br />
on Broadway. Against all odds, she gets a job in the chorus <strong>of</strong> a big<br />
musical, <strong>title</strong>d Pretty Lady. When the leading actress breaks her ankle<br />
right before Opening Night, Peggy steps into the starring role and saves<br />
the day.<br />
The 1980 stage version, directed by Gower Champion, was a musical extravaganza, featuring forty<br />
pairs <strong>of</strong> feet tap-dancing away as the curtain slowly rose for the first act. The original cast included<br />
Jerry Orbach as Julian Marsh, the producer <strong>of</strong> Pretty Lady, Tammy Grimes as Dorothy Brock, the<br />
imperious leading lady, and Wanda Richert as Peggy Sawyer, the young kid who steps out onto the<br />
stage on Opening Night as a youngster, but comes back a star.<br />
42nd Street won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit. Tragically,<br />
Gower Champion died just hours before the opening night performance and his death was<br />
announced during the curtain call that evening.<br />
DID YOU KNOW..?<br />
Dames at Sea<br />
While 42nd Street was a loving re-make <strong>of</strong> the 1933 film, Dames at that [<strong>title</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>show</strong>]<br />
Sea took the same story and parodied it Off-Broadway at the Caffe references over 90<br />
Cino in 1966, starring a young Bernadette Peters as Ruby, the kid from different musicals?<br />
Utah looking for her big break on the Great White Way. This version, far from the Busby<br />
Berkeley-esque Broadway production which came later, spo<strong>of</strong>ed the tradition <strong>of</strong> lavishly<br />
staged musicals with only six cast members on a very small stage. The plot <strong>of</strong> Dames at Sea<br />
diverged from the original story by having the "musical within the musical" being performed<br />
on a Navy ship when the theatre in which it was to be staged is scheduled for demolition. In<br />
this version, Ruby saves the day when the leading lady is too seasick to perform.<br />
Dames at Sea played for 575 performances Off-Broadway and had a subsequent London<br />
run <strong>of</strong> 127 performances.<br />
<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 21