Paging 42ND STREET ... or at least Mickey and Judy. It took nearly ten years for the longest-running Broadway musical of all time to make it from stage to screen, and although director Attenborough's film version has a couple of pleasant numbers which serve as oases amidst the dullness, it
really hurts for those who remember the dazzle and emotional depth of the let's-put-on-a-show original. The story, for those unfamiliar with Kirkwood and Dante's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, revolves around the auditions for the chorus of an unnamed musical, and part of the excitement behind this
unfilmable enterprise lies with the power of watching "actual" auditions in a theater. Is it any wonder that half a dozen directors signed on for this one, only to throw their hands up in despair?
Douglas plays Zach, the director who puts the young singer-dancers through their paces, demanding not only that they strut their stuff but that they also reveal something of their backgrounds and dreams. How much can you really like a musical when the direction is flat, several good songs are
tossed into the ether, the singing and dancing are often not much to sing and dance about, and both the zest and the pain are rationed out in such miserly fashion? Skip it and dig up your "Playbill" of the stage original. leave a comment
