Phenomenal. From the first tap act to the closing cast bow, the only words to describe Howe Sound Secondary's rendition of 42nd Street are superb, phenomenal, and extraordinary.
The 1930s-based play about life on Broadway combines to hardships of scrounging for money, the fall of the stock market, true love, and some sarcastic, cynical outlooks on life.
The performance starts with Sarah Fuller's Peggy Sawyer stumbling on stage, a shy, sweet-as-sugar girl who's just trying to get a break. She can sing, she can dance, and she's quite a looker too.
The effective costumes, all styled after 30s fashion, really encompass that fashion era. From the hats to the shoes, everything just screams 30s.
The brilliant over-acting of Dorothy Brock, played by Andrea Lake, provides the comedic, "greater than thou" effect. The startlingly skillful voices that come out of these students will shock you into standing ovations and stinging hands after each song.
Audrey Rakurea's Maggie Jones comes on stage dressed to the nines in leopard-print pajamas and a satin robe, singing her heart out for the "Honeymoon Express", a train dubbed the Hudson Royale #99 that takes newlyweds to Buffalo, NY for their honeymoons.
These students can sing better than most of the professionals out there.
With excellent directing by Janice Carroll and Fran Booth, choreography by Jasmine Herron, voice coach Shannon Jonah, produced by Mike Hewitt, all of which are extremely bestowed and devoted to this tour de force.
Songs like "Dames", and "We're in the Money", sung by the fabulous cast are exceedingly well done. The scene when "star" Dorothy Brock stumbles on stage, complaining that she was only on stage 10 seconds before the blackout, to which the acting director replies, "Are you suggesting that I bring you on after the blackout?" is worth remembering.
The excelling scenery, props, and sets bring the whole production together with a bang. The rotating tri-image setting spins to provide three separate backgrounds that just slide into perfection. There is complete detailed brilliance from the smallest hat in wardrobe, to the wonderful Pretty Lady masterpiece at the end of the play.
From love triangles to girls in burlap sacks fishing for dimes with gum on a stick, this show has it all. It's truly a play to remember.
