Point Park Conservatory bids musical farewell to Oakland with ‘42nd Street’

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Another opening, another step closer to the final curtain for the Pittsburgh Playhouse in Oakland.

The musical finale for the building, the singing, tap-dancing extravaganza “42nd Street,” also signals new beginnings for Point Park University’s Conservatory Theatre Company. In the fall, the Playhouse morphs into a Downtown complex with three new theaters on Forbes Avenue between Wood and Smithfield streets.

It took nearly 50 years for “42nd Street” to transfer to the stage, where it won the best musical Tony Award in 1981, and earned the legendary Gower Champion his fourth Tony as best choreographer. The movie debuted in 1933 — around the same time the Pittsburgh Playhouse, built by Richard S. Rauh, opened for business in the first of three buildings that would be cobbled together as a performing arts center. Point Park made the Playhouse its performance home in the mid-1970s.

Shirley Jones, who studied and acted at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in the 1950s before making a career in some of Hollywood’s biggest musicals, made her last Broadway appearance in 2004, in the longrunning revival of “42nd Street.”

It’s the story of Peggy Sawyer, an ingenue from Allentown, Pa., who gets her big break in a Broadway show. When she has doubts, the director gives one of the bestknown speeches in show biz: He tells her, “You’ve got to go on, and you’ve got to give and give and give. They’ve got to like you. Got to. Do you understand? You can’t fall down. You can’t because your future’s in it, my future and everything all of us have is staked on you. … Sawyer, you’re going out a youngster but you’ve got to come back a star!”

The Point Park production is directed and choreographed by alumna Eileen Grace, a former Rockette who also was director-choreographer for the Radio City Musical Hall company. “42nd Street” features musical direction by Camille Rolla and scenic design by Johnmichael Bohach. It runs March 16-25 in the Rockwell Theatre at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Ave., Oakland. Performances are 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets are $20-$24, $10 for students and seniors, at 412-392-8000 or www.pittsburghplayhouse.com.