Storyline: The depression has hit Broadway hard. A producer, writers and an ageing star are putting on one last effort at a big, bold Broadway musical. A girl fresh off the bus from Allentown, Pennsylvania, lands a job in the chorus. When she and the star collide during a rehearsal of the big production number, she is fired. But the star’s ankle has been broken and the cast convinces the producer that the chorus girl he just fired is the only one with the singing, dancing and acting talent to replace the star. Will she go on? Will she "go out there a youngster but come back a star?" Of course!

In 1933, Busby Berkeley created the dances to the songs of Al Dubin and Harry Warren for the Warner Brothers musical 42^nd Street. Fifty years later Mark Bramble and Michael Stewart turned the movie into a full-blown Broadway musical, adding other Dubin/Warren songs from movies like Gold Diggers of 1933. The result is structured in the streamlined, fast-paced manner of modern musicals but offers the big production numbers and familiar jazzy rhythms of the 20s and 30s. It was a hit then and its revival is a hit again on Broadway. But it is also still available for community theater groups to tackle. This group does itself proud with the challenges of tap, song and story.

The primary strengths of the production are its visual style (thanks to colorful, workable sets augmented by John Ovington’s painted drops) and its musical style (anchored by Music Director Jeffrey Shue’s solid pit band with the driving percussion work of Jim Sylvester). There is also the contribution of a trio of talented performers. Laurie Dunlap brings a confident stage presence and a good clear voice to her role of the star who used to have those qualities, while Lindsay Luppino comes down from Penn State much as her character came to New York from Allentown, Pennsylvania to wow audiences with her singing and dancing. Randall Jones is imposing as the director who has to turn to the youngster to replace the established star, all in the name of "the two most glorious words in the English language: Musical Comedy."

Director Hans Bachmann keeps the focus on the story and provides nice detail material for even the performers with the smaller parts. The production bogs down between scenes for some slow setups and the fine costume design work of Lee Frank is marred by some very ugly wigs but it should be noted that the un-credited sound team has done a very nice job within the constraints frequently found in community theater. Tom Alexander does a good job of adapting the choreography for a chorus somewhat smaller than Broadway standards but larger than many community theaters would be able to offer. The dances, particularly the tap routines, are handled very nicely. Marcus Jackson in the role of the dance captain and Luppino, as the star to be, really "put those kids through their paces," as the saying goes.

What is a director to do with a musical with big, joyous chorus numbers like "Food, Glorious Food," "Consider Yourself (One of Us)" and "Oom-Pah-Pah," broad physical comedy and cheap vaudeville schtick but which happens to be about exploitive child labor, spousal abuse, kidnapping and murder? Do you go light or heavy? Clearly, director Robert Leembruggen wasn’t able to find a balance. He does have some striking visual images, such as the opening visage of the orphans in serried ranks assembled. He has some scenes that work quite nicely, such as the "Boy for Sale" solo by Mel Downs.

There certainly is a young boy who can sing – Jacob L. Perry delivers a pure and clean "Where Is Love." But his acting isn’t at the caliber of his singing. There is also the fine belting voice of Angela D. Polite who sells "As Long As He Needs Me" as a song even if she can’t turn it into a believable explanation of why her character would continue to suffer the abuse that ultimately results in her death.  Of course, it didn’t help matters much when significant portions of both those songs were delivered in the dark due to a number of missed light cues at the performance we attended. Leembruggen himself played the key role of the leader of the pack of thieves and delivered the sly "Reviewing the Situation."

Alvin Smithson’s orchestra of nine produced a strong, solid sound and the ensemble filled the hall on the larger production numbers. The sound system, on the other hand, provided intermittent and irregular amplification that made some of the dialogue and lyrics hard to follow.

Maybe it does take someone with the resources of a big Broadway producer to make this show work right. Certainly, David Merrick who produced it back in 1963 when it captured the Tony Award for Music, had all the bucks he wanted to throw at it. But then, he charged top dollar for tickets as well and today that would be $100, not the $12 the American Music Stage charges.