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Youngstown’s Natalia Hagan, Matthew Alexander in national tour The road to ‘42ND STREET’
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
The touring production of “42nd Street” will come to Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing Youngstown’s Natalia Lepore Hagan and Matthew Alexander with it.
Lepore Hagan plays the role of Anytime Annie in the tour, which is the 2001 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of the Broadway classic. It’s a key role and her first major production.
Though she’s living her dream, it took a lot of practice and dedication to get there.
In a recent phone interview from her hotel room in South Carolina, where the tour had stopped, Lepore Hagan’s excitement was infectious.
It’s a quality that serves her well in “42nd Street,” a rowsing crowd-pleaser.
“42nd Street” includes some of Broadway’s greatest songs, including “We’re In The Money,” “Lullaby of Broadway,” “Shuffle Off To Buffalo,” “Dames,” “I Only Have Eyes For You” and “42nd Street.”
Based on a novel by Bradford Ropes and Busby Berkeley’s 1933 movie, it tells the story of a starry-eyed young dancer named Peggy Sawyer who leaves her Allentown, Pa., home and comes to New York to audition for the new Broadway musical “Pretty Lady.” When the leading lady breaks her ankle, Peggy takes over and becomes a star.
The touring production is directed by Mark Bramble and choreographed by Randy Skinner, the team that staged the 2001 revival.
Lepore Hagan describes her character as the sassy and brassy head of the chorus girls in the show within a show. Her character befriends Peggy, the main character, and urges her to go after the lead role.
“I love her,” said Lepore Hagan of her character. “She is awesome.” She noted that Ginger Rogers played the role in the 1933 movie.
As Anytime Annie, Lepore Hagan also sings one of the iconic songs – “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” – in a wedding dress.
She sees a strong parallel between herself and her character, as both are meeting their ambitions in a Broadway show. “I relate to her so much,” said Lepore Hagan. “[Like Annie,] I sing, dance and act through the whole show, and every day on the tour is an adventure.”
The road to “42nd Street” might seem like a quick one for Lepore Hagan, but it is the result of devotion and years of hard work.
She moved to New York three years ago and immersed herself in theater. She took voice, acting and tap-dancing lessons and went to a lot of auditions.
“I worked my butt off to become a really good tapper,” she said – a quality that served her well in landing her latest role. “All that hard work paid off.”
She appeared in three episodes of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” as a dancer, and did an off-Broadway show (“The Mapmaker’s Opera, choreographed by former Ballet Western Reserve artistic director Stas Kmiec).
Lepore Hagan first auditioned for the “42nd Street” tour in February 2015, along with 500 other girls.
“We went through two weeks of auditions, eight rounds, with more and more getting cut each round,” she said. As the field was narrowed, the creative team made more and more demands to determine who would best fit the roles.
“We would dance, and then sing and dance, and then they’d say ‘wear this’ or ‘wear that’ so when the choreographer saw us he could imagine us in the role.
“I got a call three weeks after it ended. I didn’t know I was going to get this role. I thought I was going to be in the ensemble, and understudy the diva character. When I heard him say ‘your role is Anytime Annie’ I was so surprised that I asked him to repeat it. But it’s perfect!”
Lepore Hagan, the daughter of former state Rep. Bob Hagan and state Rep. Michele Lepore Hagan, began preparing for the stage at age 4, when she began studying at Ballet Western Reserve in Youngstown.
After high school, she attended Baldwin Wallace College and Ohio State University, where she studied musical theater and dance, respectively.
Landing a role in such an iconic production has been her goal, and life on the road – on and off stage – has been exciting.
“The audiences have been amazing,” she said. “The show opens with a huge tap number, and when we finish it, the sound that comes up from the audience, the roar ... there’s nothing like it. It’s such an amazing show, with number after number that everyone recognizes, the glitz, the glamour, the girls ... it’s probably overwhelming to the audience. They’re screaming and cheering.”
When she’s not on stage, Lepore Hagan is getting an up-close look at the country.
“I’ve never seen the United States, and this is a way to see the country and further my career at the same time,” she said. “I keep finding amazing spots ...a diner in Spokane, Washington, a dive bar in Gillette, Wyoming. It’s so cool to see the country and especially to see the old theaters, with so much history.”
Another Youngstown native is also in the tour of “42nd Street.” Matthew Alexander is part of the ensemble and understudies Billy, one of the leads.
A musical theater graduate of Point Park University, Alexander has been in the national tours of “50 Shades! The Musical Parody,” “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” “Bye Bye Birdie” and “A Christmas Carol.”
Alexander is a Chaney High graduate, and a former member of the Youngstown Connection. He got his start in theater at the Youngstown Playhouse.