Go see ‘42nd Street’ this weekend

Published 10:28 pm Thursday, June 19, 2014

If you haven’t been humming “We’re in the Money” or “Shuffle off to Buffalo” all week long like I have, that means you’ve missed the best entertainment in Suffolk this year.

But there’s good news. The community theater production of “42nd Street” at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts continues this weekend. Your last two chances to see it are at 8 p.m. Saturday or 3 p.m. Sunday.

I was privileged to be able to attend part of a run-through at RPM Dance on June 5. After seeing just two or three dance numbers and a handful of spoken lines, I knew I had to see the whole show.

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At the run-through, I was captivated by the multiple talents of kids who are half my age, such as 14-year-olds Hannah and Logan Markley and 15-year-old Brexdyn La Dieu. Their slightly older counterparts, including Alyssa Romanelli, Hannah Maconaghy, Abigail Bowden and Makenzie Myers, were singing and tapping their way into my brain as I watched. The adult actors — Annie Lewis, Mark Kent, Bernard Florey and others — rounded out the cast perfectly.

I loved the costumes, the acting, the music, the singing, the ballet and especially the tap. Renee Perry Mitchell of RPM Dance did a fine job directing her tap students, as well as the ballet dancers who were cast during open auditions, and the singers and actors who were recruited from across Hampton Roads.

The classic story about a Broadway director who aims to put on a show in the throes of the Great Depression — and has to fight issues with funding, a star caught in the middle of a love triangle who later gets injured and can’t perform, and a young girl straight off the train from Pennsylvania who hasn’t yet proven herself on the stage — is one not to be missed.

I left last Saturday night raving so much about the show that my boyfriend now plans to see it with me when I go — again — this weekend.

The only thing that was disappointing about the show was the fact there were still some empty seats in the Birdsong Theater. Everyone in Suffolk should be flocking there this weekend to see the remarkable talents on display. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

But save me a seat.