PBS’s ‘Great Performances’ Celebrates ’42nd Street’
Preview
Come and meet those dancing feet. From the moment the curtain rises on a clattering cacophony of chorus boys and girls in a tap-dancing frenzy, 42nd Street whisks the audience into an extravagant fantasy of song and choreography.
It’s a happily cornball musical-comedy world where a dashingly brash director (Tom Lister, above left) can tell his perky ingenue (Clare Halse), “You’re going out a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!”
Though 42nd Street kicks off a monthlong “Broadway’s Best” series on Great Performances, this recent revival is from London’s West End, where most of the other shows were recorded.
Also on the roster: The King and I (November 8), featuring Tony-winning performances by Kelli O’Hara (opposite Ken Watanabe) and Ruthie Ann Miles; the drama Red (November 15), starring Alfred Molina as painter Mark Rothko; Kinky Boots (November 29), showcasing Matt Henry’s Olivier Award–winning star turn as Lola; and from New York’s Shakespeare in the Park, Much Ado About Nothing (November 22), with Orange Is the New Black‘s Danielle Brooks.
Great Performances: 42nd Street, 9/8c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)
