1981 Broadway Cast of 42nd Street

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 3:59pm

Karen Prunzik and Lee Roy Reams and the cast perform "We're in the Money" on a Bob Hope TV special.

http://youtu.be/n8fZrG-Yya0

[broadwaytbay]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 4:08pm

PalJoey, you are a national treasure. I love everything you post, particularly the broadway history, and personal commentary. As a self confessed theatre geek and fact aficionado all your stories and posts simply build my trivia bank. That is the end of my love letter. I shall not gush any more...

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 4:57pm

Save your gush in this case for Karen Prunzik herself, who posted that video on her Facebook page, and I saw someone's re-post of it.

So here's to you, Karen!

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 5:12pm

Man, oh, man, I really miss when casts were that big! And it's so great to be reminded just how fantastic Leroy Reams was in that show, and how equally great the choreography was.

Thanks for sharing it!

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 6:33pm

PJ, you post a lot of fun stuff. This is one of my favorite shows.

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 7:14pm

Lee Roy Reams, best12bars. I'd venture a guess that Leroy Reams works in a different field, but with a decent audience overlap

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 7:49pm

That cast was huge, maybe its time for a full scale broadway revile of this.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 7:52pm

The last revival had a very large cast as well and failed to recoup despite running four years. I'm going to guess it will be a long while before we see such a large scale revival of this show in New York, unfortunately.

[forgetmenotnyc]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 9:10pm

I loved this show in 1981 at the Winter Garden & also when it moved to the Majestic & St. James. I didn't see the more recent revival though. Tammy Grimes, Carole Cook, so many wonderful people in it. Esp. good to see it in full daylight in order to really appreciate the choreography.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 8:09am

Lee Roy Reams really was a force of nature back then.

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 8:39am

I saw this in October 1980, at the Winter Garden. I was planning my very first trip to New York, and bought my ticket, by mail, before I left San Francisco, even before the show officially opened. My hand trembled as I wrote out the check. How could I spend so much for a ticket to ONE show? I was only paying $13 a night to stay at the Vanderbilt Y. How could I possibly afford....THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS to see a Broadway show???

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 10:28am

Audiences these days aren't so much interested in large dancing shows. Now that tickets are over $100 and due to the movies, audiences want to see special effects. Large ensemble shows like Show Boat or Ragtime will come along once in a generation.

[bobs3]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 10:38am

It opened in August 1980 at the Winter Garden and it was a VERY HOT AND HUMID August and September in NYC that year and even hotter on the stage with all of that lighting so the showgirls and Tammy Grimes used to finish their scenes and run off stage into the wings. Because it was so HOT they wouldn't wear any underwear and they used to lift up their costumes and flash the stagehands as they ran to the dressing rooms.

Updated On: 1/16/14 at 10:38 AM

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 11:07am

I saw that during my first trip to New York, I loved it. I didn't stop smiling until intermission.

Has anyone out there seen the version that was recorded for Japanese television?

[jemjeb2]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 1:17pm

That's terrible that it had a four year run and yet was technically a flop. I saw it in Los Angeles and was knocked out by it, though sadly from some unexpected problems got there slightly past curtain and we were not allowed in till after the great opening number was over. We could see it happening on a little tv monitor in he lobby. Waaaa!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 1:30pm

Well the revival played at that barn, so it's not surprising it flopped. I kind of preferred the revival to the original production, though nothing can compare to Theoni V. Aldredges costumes in the original.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 1:39pm

Wonderful memories!!

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 1:40pm

And I do believe that the tour of the revival was profitable. I seem to remember it was just a tiny bit shy of turning a profit when it closed in NY, but the sheer size of it, from cast, orchestra, crew, etc, just made it too difficult to keep it going on.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 1:44pm

I loved the dancers tapping on the staircase in the title number of the show in the revival. I saw both the original and revival several times. The closing performance of the original production was the first time I had ever attended the final performance of a Broadway show.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 6:00pm

This was great! Thanks so much for posting, PalJoey! At first I was a touch disappointed that it didn't look as glamorous as the revival cast on that giant staircase, but then it kept building and building and building. The last 2 minutes of tap was absolutely stunning. Who is the lead male dancer on the giant coin in the center? Lee Roy Reams? He was spectacular!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 11:42pm

then it kept building and building and building

You've put your finger on something some of our contemporary choreographer need to be better at.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/17/14 at 2:47am

42nd Street was one of my few opening nights (Jerry's Women, My One and Only and Sweeney Todd are all I can remember) and it was a great show with a horrible ending. After the curtain calls. I still have three copies of the program. People grabbed for the spare copies like shoppers at a rug riot when they realized they would become instant collectables. That's why two of mine look a little battered.