Strong singing brings '42nd Street' to life at Forum Theatre

If you still want to meet those dancing feet, tonight is your chance as the Broadway Theatre League presents a second night of 42nd Street at the Forum Theatre in Binghamton.

This musical is such a classic it's hard to believe it took 47 years for it to make the leap from the silver screen to Broadway, which it did in 1980. In the years since, the story of the girl who gets plucked from the chorus to take the lead and become a star has become a perennial favorite (and for all you cynics out there, it does happen — just ask Sutton Foster, star of Thoroughly Modern Millie, who got the lead role and a Tony Award for it, as well).

For tap dancing fans, this show is an absolute must-see. The ensemble numbers are terrific high-energy, toe-tapping rhapsodies; and when combined with the glittering costumes and sets, are everything you would expect from an old-school Broadway show.

There is some phenomenal singing in this show, which is a good thing because the songs, many of which became standards long before they got to Broadway, certainly deserve some fine singing. Particularly good are Natalie Buster, as Dorothy Brock, and Maureen Veronica Illmensee as Maggie Jones. Although her vicious portrayal of Brock made it tough to find the character sympathetic, Buster's voice rippled over the audience like velvet, and from a seriously low register, too. She gets some of the best music in the show, including I Only Have Eyes For You, You're Getting to be a Habit With Me, About A Quarter to Nine and the Act One Finale version of the title song. Jones is a fabulously big woman with an equally fabulous voice that at times resembles the late great Ethel Merman around the vibrato. Her high-energy rendition of the Shadow Waltz earned her immediate applause. When David Grant, who plays the role of director Julian Marsh, sings Lullaby of Broadway, it makes me wonder why I don't go to New York more. As soon-to-be-star Peggy Sawyer, Melody Davi's singing suffered slightly by comparison to Buster, but her dancing was great and she showed the audience Peggy's transformation from cute wind-up doll to leg-swinging lead. Playing a much smaller role than the others but doing a superb job with it was Randi Kaye, who played the role of Peggy's fellow chorus mate, Annie. Sometimes people just light up the stage and that's what she did and it got her noticed.