Theater Review

42nd Street staves off disaster with stellar dancing

There are two key components to any good musical: music and dancing. If it falters in either one of those areas, chances are it won’t be a success. Occasionally, the music is so good or the dancing so unnecessary that it can supersede this idea, but it's rare.

And then you have 42nd Street, a corny-as-hell story with middling-to-bad songs that somehow still wins you over due to its stellar tap dancing. It’s right there in the show’s tagline: “Come and meet those dancing feet,” a line from the titular song. They say nothing about great music or great singing — it’s just about the dancing.

Of course, there has to be some kind of story to set up the choreography. Set in 1933, Peggy Sawyer (Caitlin Ehlinger) arrives in New York with dreams of being a Broadway star. She hooks on with the budding production of Pretty Lady, the latest surefire hit from director Julian Marsh (Matthew J. Taylor).

Her talents are immediately apparent to everyone in the show and are contrasted with those of Dorothy Brock (Kaitlin Lawrence), the star who can sing with the best of them but can’t dance worth a lick. The story of a talented newcomer going up against an aging veteran has been told innumerable times, so the plot is utterly predictable.

Save for a few numbers — “I Only Have Eyes for You,” “Lullaby of Broadway,” “42nd Street” — none of the songs are all that memorable. And even when they are, they are usually just an excuse to set up another spectacular dance number, pushing the singing aside.

It’s hard to argue with the thrill of seeing such skillful dancing on display. The show opens with an impressive showcase, and then other numbers are thrown in the mix every so often so you don’t concentrate too much on the lesser elements. Everyone in the company is up to the dancing challenge, and the routines are so intricate and nonstop that it leaves the audience exhausted just from watching.

Were the dancing not so great, the somewhat questionable acting and cheesy storyline would be a much bigger deal. The production, which is based on the 1930s movie and originally debuted in 1980, seems to pay homage to the over-the-top acting style prevalent in '30s. This can either be highly amusing or grating, depending on your point of view.

While 42nd Street can’t hold a candle to the best touring shows, as a pure display of hoofing, it will leave you breathless.

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Performing Arts Fort Worth presents 42nd Street at Bass Performance Hall through July 17.

Blake Stadnik and the company of the national tour of 42nd Street.

Blake Stadnik and Company in national tour of 42nd Street

Photo by Chris Bennion

Blake Stadnik and the company of the national tour of 42nd Street.

theater

Ancient Sculpture News

Fort Worth museum one of only 3 in U.S. to get rare sculpture exhibit

Lorenzo di Masi/Torlonia Collection

The Torlonia Nile

A major exhibition of ancient Roman masterworks is coming to the U.S. for the first time to be viewed at only three museums — including the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.

Called Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection, it's an assemblage of works stewarded by the Torlonia Family beginning in the early-19th century, and will be installed at the Kimbell from September 14, 2025 – January 25, 2026.

As part of the Foundation’s mission to showcase these historical works to the public, the exhibition will premiere at the Art Institute of Chicago on March 15 through June 29, before traveling to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Its third stop will be at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, from March 14 - July 19, 2026.

The Torlonia Collection was established during the course of the 19th century by the Franco-Italian banker Prince Giovanni Torlonia and his son Alessandro, then handed down over generations, eventually growing into the largest private collection of ancient Roman sculptures.

Today, the Torlonia Foundation represents the culmination of the Family’s continued passion for art. Created at the behest of Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1925–2017), the Foundation’s mission is to preserve and promote the Torlonia Collection and Villa Albani Torlonia.

In 1876, Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1800-1886) created a museum to house and exhibit the Family’s holdings, which was open to small groups until its closure at the onset of World War II. The sculptures remained unseen by the public from that time until the Foundation’s first exhibition at the Musei Capitolini in Rome in 2020. That was followed by a stint at the Louvre, the first presentation of the collection outside of Rome, where it has drawn more than 600,000 visitors to date, an unprecedented feat.

The exhibit
The curators of Myth & Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection are Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, in collaboration with the Kimbell Art Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and The Museum Box. All of the sculptures in the exhibition have been restored by the Foundation with the support of Bvlgari.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue co-published by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, edited by Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff, with essays by Silvia Beltrametti and Salvatore Settis.

The North American presentation will feature 58 highlights from the Torlonia Collection, including 24 newly restored works that have not been on view in nearly a century. The sculptures date from approximately the 5th century BCE to the early 4th century CE, with the majority of the works dating to the High Imperial period (1st–2nd centuries CE). Highlights include examples of the most emblematic genres of ancient marble sculpture, acquired by the Torlonia Family from the most prominent collections of Rome’s patrician families, as well as from excavations made on the Family’s own estates throughout Italy.

“The Foundation is excited to be sharing the Torlonia Collection with audiences in North America for the first time. This exceptional group of ancient sculptures is a testament to the enduring cultural legacy of ancient Rome, as well as the vision and passion of multiple generations of the Torlonia Family,” said Alessandro Poma Murialdo, President of the Torlonia Foundation.

The presentation is organized thematically in six sections, featuring sculptures found on the Torlonia Family’s properties in Rome and the surrounding suburbs and their estate in Porto, Portugal, as well as a number of exceptional sarcophagi (stone coffins), among the largest sculpted works in marble to survive from ancient Rome.

The tour reinforces the work of the Foundation to advance the appreciation and understanding of this unparalleled collection and the rich cultural heritage it represents. The Foundation’s mission is carried out through a continuous joint effort between the public and private sectors, including with the cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The Foundation is supported by a longstanding collaboration with Bvlgari as the principal sponsor of the restoration project since its inception in Rome and throughout the global tour, and Chiomenti, who has lent invaluable support to the Foundation’s core activities.

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