42nd Street (1980 Original Broadway Cast)

Legendary Broadway impresario David Merrick had his last (and longest-running) hit in 1980 with 42nd Street, an adaptation of the 1933 RKO film best known as one of the classic backstage musicals, as well as a vehicle for Busby Berkeley's jaw-dropping choreography. The stage version preserves the film's terrific Harry Warren-Al Dubin songs, including "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me," "Shuffle Off to Buffalo," and the title tune, plus ringers "We're in the Money" and "Lullaby of Broadway." Jerry Orbach plays down-and-out director Julian Marsh hoping for a comeback, and Tammy Grimes is the star Dorothy Brock who gives way to ingenue Peggy Sawyer (Wanda Richert). 42nd Street is fun listening (including a herd of tap dancers in the opening auditions), and even if it seems quaint compared to the grittier backstage look taken in A Chorus Line, which debuted five years earlier, the two shows coexisted on Broadway for many years. 42nd Street is also well known for one of Merrick's most infamous stunts: when director Gower Champion died the morning the show opened, Merrick kept the information to himself so he could announce it to a shocked audience and cast after the final curtain call. --David Horiuchi