42nd street – Original staging conditions.
Introduction:
For this assignment. I will be talking about the original musical performance of 42nd street. I will present the conditions of the stage and setting for the original stage performance. In this, I will talk about the plot and the characters of 42nd street, how the plot progresses and how each character has their own purpose for it. the staging conditions that include the set, the costumes worn, the props used, the type of orchestra as well as other aspects; and I will talk about the different social, cultural and political contexts in both the 1930s (around when the musical is set) and the 1980s (when the original musical was performed). Also, I will be talking about the different themes present in the musical, how these different themes are important to the context to the musical and how they were relevant in the 1980s (when the original musical was performed).
Synopsis:
In 1933s New York, director Julian Marsh is preparing a performance of the newest musical ‘Pretty Lady’. With this, he holds auditions for many men and women. Peggy Sawyer, originating from Allentown, Pennsylvania, enters New York. She is notified by Billy Lawlor that she has missed the audition and that he can find a way to get her in the show anyway. He tries to do this by convening Adam lee to accept her in the performance, but he declines the request. Peggy leaves in embarrassment but ends up confronted by director Julian Marsh.
Dorothy Brock, who is a onetime star, is aggravated upon being asked to audition for a role. She has to be reassured by producer Bert who, even though she is believed to be a prima donna past her prime, says that he wants to see if the music is in her key. After this, he decides casts her in order to receive backing from her beau, Abner Dillon (who is very wealthy). Peggy is taken pity on by chorus girls Annie, Phyllis, Lorraine and writer Maggie Jones. With this, they offer to join them for lunch. Peggy is then encouraged by them to show them a dance routine, which is conveniently witnessed by Julian Marsh. After seeing Peggy’s performance, he finally decides to put her in the show.
Julian soon discovers that Dorothy is seeing Pat Denning (Her old boyfriend) without Abner knowing. Under fear of knowing that if Abner finds this out, it will destroy the show and its future, he decides to put an end to the whole affair for once and all. This results in a phone call being directed to Pat. He is lead to a few thugs who convince him to stop being with Dorothy. After this, the cast finally departs to the arch street theatre, Philadelphia for a try-out out-of-town.
Unfortunately, on this opening night, Peggy is knocked into Dorothy on stage who is knocked off stage. Outraged by this, Julian immediately fires Peggy for it.
After the catastrophe, the show may close due to Dorothy’s ankle being broken. Julian is confronted by the chorus girls who are certain that Peggy is best for the part (even better than Dorothy) and that he should get her back. Julian decides to go to the train station to do exactly that.
Peggy is found by Julian at Philadelphia’s Broad Street Station where he apologises tries to convince her to come back. She declines and says that she is finished with show business and want to go back home in Allentown. Amassed by this remark, he decides to persuade her with the ‘Lullaby of Broadway”. After this serenade that is joined later by the rest of the cast, Peggy decides to accept his offer.
Peggy is then forced to learn the entire part in two days and is fast approaching a nervous breakdown. The is then confronted by Dorothy, who has been watching the rehearsals. Other than Peggy’s nervous state, Dorothy states that Peggy is “better than I would have been”. Form this, she offers some friendly advice and suggestions on how to perform the last song.
On the opening night, as the curtain is about to open when Julian decides to see Peggy. He comes by to give a last-minute pep talk where he says the popular line "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!". With that, she shows become an instant success that will make Peggy exponentially more popular. Lastly, Julian is left alone on the stage with a single light.
Themes:
In 42nd Street, there is a diverse and prominent range of themes that are presented and evident throughout the performance. Here is a lift o those themes, how they are relevant and why they are important:
• Love and relationships –
In the performance, there is a hint of love between Julian marsh and Peggy Sawyer throughout. Other than that, there aren’t any other prominent features of this. In the performance, there isn’t any sight of gay or lesbian couples. This is relevant because in the 1930s (when 42nd street is set), if you were caught in America as being gay or lesbian there was a high chance you could be arrested due to the fact that it was considered to be a mental illness. This may have been noticed in the 1980s because around 1978, being gay or lesbian had been legalised and gay/lesbian couples were allowed to date. The specific job roles may have been noticed by the audiences in 1980s. this is because in the 1930s, men were paid double than woman in the same job. This would have made sense if women would be seen with other men. They may have don’t this but not have kids as this would mean they would have to permanently stay at home to look after them.
• The great depression –
It isn’t presented throughout, but there is a subtle reference to the great depression of 1929-39 (crossing through when 42nd street was set). This was when in 1929, low income to employees and workers allowed the American economy to grow very large. But as a result, to this people weren’t able to pay for products. This caused companies to fire workers, leading into mass unemployment of numbers up to 15’000’000 (Otherwise known as the wall street crash). This began to subside in 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt had become president and began to give people jobs and began to recover the broken economy. This was relevant to the 1980s because audiences may have experienced the depression in their lifetime or had remembered how Franklin Roosevelt assisted in the recovery of the economy they had lived in. It is relevant to the plot as Julian marsh seems to be a result of it. He says that he” feels ill” which could be a result of not being able to buy enough food to stay healthy. Also, he mentions about “what happened to wall street” which is a subtle hint to the wall street crash of 1929.
• Class and status –
In the 1930s, personal status was everything. When there were shows being performed, directors would go to lengths such as to choose the audience to get the best views. Shows would be performed by those of higher class who had been learning to how to perform all their lives. This would have been seen as unusual to most audience members in the 1980s as some may not have known about this detail at the time. Not knowing about it may also came as a shock to some at the time. It is relevant to the story because Julian had fired Peggy as a loss of the major aspect of his show. It makes since that he would want the perfect show, all for Peggy to stop it from happening.
• The American dream –