Decades of dancing feet

In the revival, we have new numbers -- "With Plenty of Money and You," "Keep Young and Beautiful" -- and there is a huge chunk of the "42nd Street" number that was never there. There are some new lyrics that we found and added, there is new music, there is a whole curtain call that we found. And in the other songs, it's all new staging and choreography.

The "staircase dance" is part of the big "42nd Street" Act 2 number. We wanted to do an image that would reflect the movie, where people could come up and over from behind. It's a great film image that is very hard to accomplish onstage because it is so costly, and you have to have a stage big enough to do it on.

Continual change

In the 1980 production, we had some mirrors in the background, but we didn't do any kind of overhead stuff. For "Keep Young and Beautiful," we came up with this idea of this big, big overhead mirror, and a turntable. Dancers end up lying down, forming these wonderful geometric patterns in the overhead mirror. And they can also get up and move to the mirror, so there is a continual element of change. It really is an audience favorite. It's really the glorifying of the American girl, it's as simple as that; it's what was a big part of all those Busby Berkeley movies.

We call "Plenty of Money and You" the "piano number." That's the big moment for Peggy (Catherine Wreford in Los Angeles), when she gets to dance on the piano and jump off the piano; she's all over the stage. It is the number that shows Peggy has grown and is able to take over the show. She is really able to strut her stuff.

"We're in the Money" is an old number, but I have done a whole new thing for Billy Lawlor (Robert Spring), dancing on top of a dime. It's kind of a nice way of blending the new with the old. What the kids do is pretty much the same as in the original. We worked so hard originally to figure out how those coins would fit on the stage; they're rather heavy. So it was easier just to take that number and say, "It works, it's always worked." People love just seeing the coins come out, and hearing the sound of the taps on the metal; it's a slightly different sound.

Doug Schmidt, our set designer, has done a remarkable job of getting a show on the road that is so huge in New York. Your choices are to only play the big theaters, like the Ahmanson, or make changes so you can go to a lot of places that don't usually get this kind of show. We actually staged the show initially for the smaller stages, because it's easier to spread out when you get the bigger stages than it is to crunch.

"42nd Street" is a show that dancers love to do, because the chorus is the star. With young dancers, "42nd Street" is the show that made them want to start dancing, I've heard it too many times not to believe it. I think every generation has a show. In the '70s, it was "A Chorus Line." In the '80s, it was "42nd Street."

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'42nd Street'

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When: Opens Friday. Runs Tuesday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m.; and Sunday, 7:30 p.m. After Aug. 17, Sunday shows at 2 p.m. only; Aug. 21, 28 shows at 2 and 8 p.m.

Ends: Aug. 31

Price: $25-$80

Contact: (213) 628-2772