Communiqué
“Broadway’s Best” Kicks Off With “42nd Street” on Great Performances | Friday, November 1 at 9
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The 1981 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, 42nd Street is the song and dance, American dream fable of Broadway, featuring the iconic songs “42nd Street,” “We’re In the Money,” “Lullaby of Broadway,” “Shuffle Off To Buffalo,” “I Only Have Eyes For You” and many more. This all-singing and all-tapping musical extravaganza includes a cast of nearly 60 people. Young Peggy Sawyer is fresh off the bus from small-town America and just another face in the chorus line on Broadway’s newest show. But when the leading lady gets injured, Peggy just might have the shot at the top she’s always dreamed of. Starring Bonnie Langford as Broadway diva Dorothy Brock alongside Tom Lister as the demanding director Julian Marsh, Clare Halse as the ingénue Peggy Sawyer and Philip Bertioli as Billy Lawlor, this revival of director-choreographer Gower Champion’s original production was recorded at the end of its 2018 blockbuster run in London’s West End, with musical staging and new choreography by Tony nominee Randy Skinner (“Dames at Sea”) and directed by Mark Bramble, co-author of the book for the original Broadway and West End productions and director of the 2001 Tony Award-winning revival.
42nd Street is part of Great Performances’ third annual “Broadway’s Best” lineup of acclaimed theatrical productions, premiering Fridays, November 1-29 at 9 p.m. on PBS, pbs.org/gperf and the PBS Video app. PBS station members can view the entire Great Performances “Broadway’s Best” lineup beginning November 1 via Passport. Click here to join WOUB Passport to have access to streaming content today!
Credits
For Great Performances: Bill O’Donnell is series producer and David Horn is executive producer. For 42nd Street: Music and lyrics by Harry Warren an Al Dubin, book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble and original direction and dances by Gower Champion, directed for the stage by Mark Bramble with musical staging and new choreography by Randy Skinner. A GradeLinnit Production for Broadway HD, directed for the screen by Ross MacGibbon and produced by Austin Shaw; Bonnie Comley, Stewart F. Lane, Michael Linnit and Michael Grade are executive producers.
Funders
Major funding for “Broadway’s Best” on Great Performances is provided by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the Irene Diamond Fund, Rosalind P. Walter, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, The Starr Foundation, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, the Thea Petschek Iervolino Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold, The Lewis “Sonny” Turner Fund for Dance, Ellen and James S. Marcus, The Phillip and Janice Levin Foundation, Seton J. Melvin, the Lenore Hecht Foundation, and PBS.