7 Best 42nd Street Monologues – Opening Monologue

42nd STREET (Julian Marsh)

Category: Musical Role: Julian Marsh From: 42nd Street

JULIAN: Now listen and listen hard. One hundred people. One hundred jobs. One hundred thousand dollars! Five weeks of grind and blood and sweat, and it all depends on what you do out there tonight. Oh, I know what you”re thinking. Here comes Marsh with another one of his pep talks. Well, this is the last of them, Sawyer, and it comes straight from the heart. Our hopes, our futures, our lives are in your hands. Go out there and make them shine with your golden talent!! Sawyer, you”re going out there a youngster. But you”ve got to come back a star!More Monologues from “42nd Street”RelatedShareTweetPin

42nd STREET (Julian Marsh)

Category: Musical Role: Julian Marsh From: 42nd Street

JULIAN: Sawyer, “Pretty Lady” opens on this stage in exactly thirty-six hours. You”ve got twenty-five pages, six songs, and ten dance routines to learn by eight-thirty tomorrow night. Do you think you can do it?Then we begin. Oscar, Mac! Where the hell”s the piano? (Mac and Oscar roll piano into place as Andy and dancers enter) Andy, let”s go! Now I want to start with the opening number, then work through all the songs and dances, then go back and do the scenes. There”ll be a five minute break every hour for food or coffee and a full fifteen minutes every four hours for rest. And no one else on this stage until I call them!By tomorrow night I”ll either have a live leading lady or a dead chorus girl. Well, what are you waiting for? Let”s go!More Monologues from “42nd Street”RelatedShareTweetPin

Then we begin. Oscar, Mac! Where the hell”s the piano? (Mac and Oscar roll piano into place as Andy and dancers enter) Andy, let”s go! Now I want to start with the opening number, then work through all the songs and dances, then go back and do the scenes. There”ll be a five minute break every hour for food or coffee and a full fifteen minutes every four hours for rest. And no one else on this stage until I call them!By tomorrow night I”ll either have a live leading lady or a dead chorus girl. Well, what are you waiting for? Let”s go!More Monologues from “42nd Street”RelatedShareTweetPin

By tomorrow night I”ll either have a live leading lady or a dead chorus girl. Well, what are you waiting for? Let”s go!More Monologues from “42nd Street”RelatedShareTweetPin

42nd STREET (Julian Marsh)

Category: Musical Role: Julian Marsh From: 42nd Street

JULIAN: You”re quite a girl, Miss Peggy Sawyer. Quite a girl. And you”re on your way to becoming quite a star. You”ve broken through, Peggy. You”re the million to one shot that comes home a winner. For years to come, thousands of little chorus girls will go to auditions and say to themselves, “Who knows? I might come out of this another Peggy Sawyer!” I ask you only to be the sort of star those little girls would want you to be. Shine your light over this glorious gulch they call Forty-Second Street! Give it your talent, your strength, your youth. But try, if you can, not to give it all your heart. Because it”s a very loving heart, and I would never want to see it broken. Now go along to the Ritz and enjoy yourself.More Monologues from “42nd Street”RelatedShareTweetPin

42nd STREET (Julian Marsh)

Category: Musical Role: Julian Marsh From: 42nd Street

JULIAN: What was that word you just said? Allentown? I”m offering you the chance to star in the biggest musical Broadway”s seen in twenty years and you say Allentown? Now listen, Sawyer, and listen good. Even if you don”t give a damn about me, think of all those kids you”ll be throwing out of work if you don”t do this! Think of the songs that will wither and die if you don”t get up there and sing them! Think of the scenery that will be seen, the costumes never worn, the orchestrations never heard! Think of “Pretty Lady” and the thrill and pleasure it could give to millions! Think of musical comedy, the most glorious words in the English language! Sawyer, think of Broadway, d -!More Monologues from “42nd Street”RelatedShareTweetPin

42nd Street (Dorothy Brock)

Category: Musical Role: Dorothy Brock From: 42nd Street

DOROTHY: So you”re going to take my place.When I started for the theatre this afternoon, I wanted to tear your heart out. I wanted to hate you, I wanted to see you fail. You, singing my songs, wearing my costumes, playing my role! But sitting there in that theatre and watching you rehearse, I found I couldn”t hate you… Because you”re good. Maybe even better than I would have been. The public wants youth, freshness, beauty, and Peggy, that”s what you”ve got. Only I”m getting something too. For ten years the theatre has kept me away from the only thing I”ve ever wanted. And it was a broken ankle that finally made me realize it. Pat Denning and I were married this morning!I have only one last wish for you, my dear. Get out there and be so swell you”ll make me hate you.More Monologues from “42nd Street”RelatedShareTweetPin

When I started for the theatre this afternoon, I wanted to tear your heart out. I wanted to hate you, I wanted to see you fail. You, singing my songs, wearing my costumes, playing my role! But sitting there in that theatre and watching you rehearse, I found I couldn”t hate you… Because you”re good. Maybe even better than I would have been. The public wants youth, freshness, beauty, and Peggy, that”s what you”ve got. Only I”m getting something too. For ten years the theatre has kept me away from the only thing I”ve ever wanted. And it was a broken ankle that finally made me realize it. Pat Denning and I were married this morning!I have only one last wish for you, my dear. Get out there and be so swell you”ll make me hate you.More Monologues from “42nd Street”RelatedShareTweetPin

I have only one last wish for you, my dear. Get out there and be so swell you”ll make me hate you.More Monologues from “42nd Street”RelatedShareTweetPin

42nd Street (Julian Marsh)

Category: Movie Role: Julian Marsh From: 42nd Street

All right, now, everybody. Quiet, and listen to me. Tomorrow morning, we’re gonna start a show. We’re gonna rehearse for five weeks and we’re gonna open on scheduled time. And I mean scheduled time. You’re gonna work and sweat and work some more. You’re gonna work days and you’re gonna work nights. And you’re gonna work between time when I think you need it. You’re gonna dance until your feet fall off and you’re not able to stand up any longer. But five weeks from now, we’re going to have a show! Now, some of you people have been with me before. You know it’s gonna be a tough grind. It’s gonna be the toughest five weeks that you ever lived through. Do you all get that? Now anybody who doesn’t think he’s gonna like it had better quit right now. What do I hear? Nobody? Good. Then that’s settled. We start tomorrow morning.

42nd STREET (Julian Marsh)

Category: Musical Role: Julian Marsh From: 42nd Street

JULIAN: All right, everybody gather around and listen to me. Today we start work on a new show. You”re going to rehearse four weeks, then try out in Atlantic City. You”re going to work twelve hours a day, seven days a week. You”re going to dance “til your feet fall off and you aren”t able to stand up, but five weeks from now, “Pretty Lady” “s going to be the best damn show this town”s ever seen! You”re on your way to glory and thirty-two bucks a week so anybody who doesn”t think he can take it better quit right now! Nobody? Good. Take a half-hour to get measured for wigs and costumes and then let”s get to work.More Monologues from “42nd Street”RelatedShareTweetPin