‘42nd Street’ is right up any theatergoer’s avenue
PROVIDENCE — The songs are familiar: “We’re in the Money,” “Lullaby of Broadway,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” and “I Only Have Eyes for You.”
“But you might not know what show they’re from,” says actor Kara Gibson Slocum.
The answer is “42nd Street,” and Slocum is one of the stars of a new touring production in town starting Friday at the Providence Performing Arts Center.
The story is a classic one about a young dancer, Peggy Sawyer, who has come to New York to audition for a new musical called “Pretty Lady.” When the leading lady breaks her ankle, Peggy is a last minute substitute and becomes a first-rate star.
That leading lady is Slocum’s character, Dorothy Brock, but the accident hardly takes her out of the picture. This aging prima donna – backed by a wealthy beau – is wary of giving up the limelight and becomes embroiled in her own story of backstage machinations. In musical comedy tradition, however, everyone is happy in the end.
Besides the popular score, “42nd Street” is even better known for its tap-dance numbers. In a most un-diva-like observation, Slocum says, “If I had to name the leading character, I’d say the entire tap ensemble. This is a huge tapdance show, and the ensemble is phenomenal.”
Even the lyrics to the title song promise, “Come and meet those dancing feet on the avenue I’m taking you to … 42nd Street.”
This is the first national tour for the California native, but not because she’s new to show business. She grew up in a musical family and went to a performing arts high school. She’s acted, been a vocal director and teacher, and artistic director for a children’s choir. She has performed on regional tours throughout her home state.
She has no trouble, howev- er, singling out her “three best productions”: the three children she and her husband have raised. Her oldest, a daughter, is a professional violinist; her son is a senior at California Polytechnic State University. Her younger daughter, Kennedy, is following most closely in her mother’s footsteps, already appearing in shows for Nickelodeon, ABC, and the Disney Channel, where she is Abby of “Abby Normal.”
“I put my larger career goals on hold while I raised my family,” Slocum explains. When Kennedy turned 18, Slocum signed up with an agent and within three weeks was cast as Dorothy Brock.
“The roles for my age scares some women, but the roles I’m eligible for are the best,” Slocum says. “They’re more fun, more layered, more interesting human beings. I did all the ingénue roles, and it’s wonderful training. But now I get to play villains, women who’ve had heartbreak. They have more meaning to me.”
Dorothy Brock could be one of those villains, except that there is redemption in the story and in the depth Slocum brings to the role.
“To be a good villain, there has to be a part (of the character) you like,” Slocum says. “I needed to find that for myself,” and she discovered it performing “I Only Have Eyes for You.”
“She was missing something in her life. She was unhappy,” Slocum says. “She’d been looking for approval and love from her audiences, but what she needed is the man she loves.” The wealthy beau was useful, but it is a former vaudeville partner who owned her heart.
Before it came to the stage, “42nd Street” was a book, and then a hit movie for director/choreographer Busby Berkeley in 1933. Just to prove it has legs, so to speak, this tap-dancing extravaganza was a hit 47 years later when, as a stage show, it won the Tony Award for Best Musical, and again in 2001 when it got the Tony for Best Musical Revival.