Based on the 1932 novel by Bradford Ropes and the subsequent 1933 Hollywood film adaptation, this backstage musical follows the rehearsal process of a Broadway show staged during the height of the Great Depression.
"[1][2] He felt audiences once again were ready to embrace the nostalgia craze started by the successful revivals of No, No, Nanette, Irene, and his own Very Good Eddie several years earlier, and augmented the familiar songs from the film's soundtrack with a liberal dose of popular tunes from the Dubin-Warren catalog.
[1] According to theater historian John Kenrick, "When the curtain slowly rose to reveal forty pairs of tap-dancing feet, the star-studded opening night audience at the Winter Garden cheered...Champion followed this number with a series of tap-infused extravaganzas larger and more polished than anything Broadway really had in the 1930s.
[6] The original cast included Jerry Orbach as Julian Marsh, Tammy Grimes as Dorothy Brock, Wanda Richert as Peggy Sawyer, and Lee Roy Reams as Billy Lawlor.
[5] Notable replacements included Barry Nelson and Don Chastain and Jamie Ross who played Julian for the last three years of its Broadway run,[7] Elizabeth Allen, Dolores Gray and Millicent Martin as Dorothy,[7] and Lisa Brown, Mary Cadorette and Karen Ziemba as Peggy.
[14] The producer had told only Bramble of Champion's death and they managed to withhold the news from the cast (including Richert, who was the director's girlfriend), the crew, and the public prior to the curtain call.
[16] The West End production opened at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on August 8, 1984, starring James Laurenson as Julian Marsh, Georgia Brown as Dorothy Brock, Clare Leach as Peggy Sawyer, Michael Howe as Billy Lawler and Margaret Courtenay as Maggie Jones.
The career of teenaged Catherine Zeta-Jones, a chorus member in the 1984 West End production, was launched when a vacation and an illness felled both the actress portraying Peggy Sawyer and her understudy when one of the producers happened to be in the audience.
The show starred Barry Quin as Julian Marsh, Nancye Hayes as Dorothy Brock, Leonie Page as Peggy Sawyer, Todd McKenney as Billy Lawler and Toni Lamond as Maggie Jones, with Dein Perry as Andy Lee.
The cast included Paul Nicholas as Julian for the first part of the tour, later replaced by Dave Willetts, Julia J. Nagle as Dorothy, Jessica Punch as Peggy, Graham Hoadly as Bert Barry, Shirley Jameson as Maggie Jones and Ashley Nottingham as Billy.
[27] A 2023 production run began in May 2023, which starred Ruthie Henshall as Dorothy Brock, Adam Garcia as Julian Marsh, Josefina Gabrielle as Maggie Jones and Les Dennis as Bert Barry,[28] which later concluded in January 2024 when the tour transferred to Toronto.
The cast included Michael Cumpsty as Julian Marsh, Christine Ebersole as Dorothy Brock, Kate Levering as Peggy Sawyer, and David Elder as Billy Lawlor.
The cast included Kevin Tarte as Julian Marsh, Isabel Dörfler as Dorothy Brock, Karin Seyfried as Peggy Sawyer, Jens Janke as Billy Lawlor, and Daniel Coninx as Abner Dillon.
[35][36] The cast included Paul Gregory Nelson as Julian, Natalie Buster as Dorothy, Kristen Martin as Peggy, and Charles MacEachern as Billy.
The cast included Sheena Easton in her West End debut as Dorothy Brock, Clare Halse as Peggy Sawyer, Stuart Neal as Billy Lawlor and Tom Lister as Julian Marsh.
[40] On March 19, 2018, Lulu took over from Easton as Dorothy Brock for a 16-week tenure, and Ashley Day took over from Neal as Billy Lawlor, with Lister and Halse remaining in the show.
The cast included Rachel York in a return to the Ogunquit Playhouse stage as Dorothy Brock, Sally Struthers as Maggie Jones, Jessica Wockenfuss as Peggy Sawyer, Steve Blanchard as Julian Marsh and Con O'Shea Creal as Billy Lawlor.
[46] The production was assistant-choreographed by Sara Brians who made her Broadway debut with the 2001 revival, and utilized sets designed by Douglas W. Schmidt for previous tours of 42nd Street.
Auditions for 1933's newest show, Pretty Lady, are nearly over when Peggy Sawyer, fresh off the bus from Allentown, Pennsylvania, arrives in New York City with valise in hand.
One-time star Dorothy Brock, indignant at being asked to audition for a role, is reassured by co-writer and producer Bert Barry that he merely wants to make sure the songs are in her key ("Shadow Waltz").
Despite feeling she is a prima donna past her prime, Marsh agrees to cast her in order to get financial backing from her wealthy beau, Abner Dillon.
Outside the theatre, co-writer and producer Maggie Jones and chorus girls Ann "Anytime Annie" Reilly, Phyllis Dale, and Lorraine Flemming take pity on Peggy and invite her to join them for lunch and some advice.
The chorus kids, certain Peggy could fill the lead role, find Julian and tell him that she's a fresh young face who can sing and dance circles around Dorothy.
The opening night curtain is about to rise when Julian, now completely in love with Peggy, stops by for a last minute lip-lock and pep talk in which he utters the now iconic line, "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!"