When Broadway director Julian Marsh realizes that “Pretty Lady” may be his last chance to make his mark on Broadway after going through hard times with both his health and his finances, he takes on the ambitious task of managing his last musical before his retirement.

The Coppell High School theater department is now taking on the ambitious task of capturing his story in their musical “42nd Street”.

“42nd Street in particular was chosen because we have a ton of girls and I wanted to give the girls more opportunities than just a typical chorus or best friend role,” CHS theater director Lisa Tabor said. “This musical in particular has a lot of tap dance, something that this group excels in.”

Despite having 15 seniors graduate from an already small class, Tabor still has confidence in the group of actors this year.

“Every year at the [awards] banquet I announce the musical and towards the end of the year I start thinking about the kids we have coming back because whatever musical we pick I want to make sure we have people to fill the parts, but we have such a talented group of actors this year,” Tabor said. “Each group brings something different and I love seeing it come through on stage.”

Auditions were held on Tuesday and Wednesday. The callback list will be posted on Thursday, with the final cast list being released tomorrow.

Junior co-stage manager Maddie Purser has seen what it is like behind the stage as assistant stage manager last year for their production of “Big Fish.” Having worked closely with these students before, Purser anticipates what these actors and technical crew will bring to the program.  

“I’m looking forward to the leadership team we put together this year,” Purser said. “[Senior co-stage manager Erin Jordan] and I, our tech department, our teachers and our great group of actors this year should be able to put something great on stage, and it will be exciting to see how that happens.”

“42nd Street” performances begin Oct 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the CHS auditorium.