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‘42nd Street’ to bring the magic of Broadway to this Central Florida theater

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‘42nd Street’ to bring the magic of Broadway to this Central Florida theater


OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Set in New York in the 1930s during the height of the Great Depression, “42nd Street” follows chrorus girl, Peggy Sawyer, and her rise to fame overnight.

She arrives to the Big Apple from Allentown, Philadelphia, and lands her first big role in the ensemble of a new Broadway show.

Just before opening night, the show’s leading lady, Dorothy Brock, breaks her ankle, and that’s when Sawyer steps in.

The cast has been rehearsing for four hours, four to five nights a week since early January.

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“A show like this, which is a very difficult tap dancing show, takes many hours of practice,” said show director Russell Fox.

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Tess Fouchi plays Peggy Sawyer in the show opening at Osceola Arts. She said she just moved to Orlando in the fall. She works part-time within Disney Entertainment and she’s a full-time student at UCF, pursuing a degree in entertainment management. She said Peggy Sawyer is a dream role for her.

“Over winter break, I threw on my tap shoes again and immediately started training for auditions, determined to get any spot in the show,” Fouchi said.

She said it doesn’t take much for her to get into character, because she really relates to Peggy.

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“Fortunately, Peggy shares many qualities with myself, such as enthusiasm, optimism, and a passion for dance. I don’t have too much prep to get into character before the show, because I’m usually just as excited and happy to be at rehearsal as Peggy would be. And although I inhabit some of her positive traits, I also can be just as clumsy as she is, having wiped out a few times during rehearsal,” Fouchi exclaimed.

Hannah McGinley plays the seasoned actress, Dorothy Brock.

“I feel a bit young to be cast as the ‘aging starlet’ at the ripe old age of 35, but then I see these young 20-somethings dancing with all this energy, I find myself relating to her immensely. This show, as many musicals do, focuses a lot on aging in the business and that is something I’m constantly evaluating in myself,” McGinley said.

“42nd Street” is performing at Osceola Arts March 15-31. (Waylon Lemasters)

She said outside of the show, she also works in a box office and at the theme parks.

“The balance is a bit easier for this one, because my husband is the technical director, so several branches are overlapping right now. It’s definitely not easy though! Long nights, often early mornings, but we do it because we love it! It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do with my life, so getting the opportunity to perform professionally is always worth the sacrifices,” McGinley said.

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The show captures the essence of Broadway dreams with a backdrop of love, laughter and dance numbers.

“This is a show within a show, so it’s the backstage story of creating a Broadway show in 1933 with all the stereotypical characters of old stage and screen musicals: The director who has lost his money in the stock market and needs to have another great Broadway show hit,” Fox said. “The diva singer, who is no longer at the top of her game, but needs to prove herself again. The comedy team who also are the writer and composer of the show. The young dancer in the chorus line who can’t help but stand out because of her talent, and the lead tenor who sings all the big songs, and dances his way through the show.”

“42nd Street” features Broadway hits, while also capturing the golden age of performing and musical theater.

“Without a doubt, the 42nd Street ‘ballet’ is my favorite. It’s a ten-minute tap ballet celebrating the beauty of New York City, and my character is dancing the whole time. I think it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done onstage, but I absolutely love it,” Fouchi said.

Osceola Arts will have special performances of “42nd Street” with an audio-described show for people who are visually impaired on Friday, March 29, at 7:30 p.m., and an American Sign Language-interpreted performance on Saturday, March 30, at 2:00 p.m. for those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

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South Florida officers sue Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, claiming details in ‘The Rip’ are too real

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South Florida officers sue Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, claiming details in ‘The Rip’ are too real


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“The Rip” features Affleck and Damon as South Florida police officers who find millions of dollars inside a house. Parts of the movie were inspired by a real 2016 case.

FILE – Matt Damon and Ben Affleck attend the world premiere of “The Rip” at Alice Tully Hall, on Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP, File

MIAMI (AP) — Two South Florida police officers claim Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s recent action thriller “The Rip” used too many real-life details in its fictionalized narrative, causing harm to the officers’ personal and professional reputations, according to a defamation lawsuit.

Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, sergeants in the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, filed the lawsuit in Miami federal court earlier this month against Artists Equity, a film production company owned by Affleck and Damon. Court filings don’t say how much the officers are suing for, but the civil complaint says they’re seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney fees, as well as a public retraction and correction.

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“The Rip” features Affleck and Damon as South Florida police officers who find millions of dollars inside a house. Parts of the movie were inspired by a real 2016 case, where police found over $21 million linked to a suspected marijuana trafficker in a Miami Lakes home.

An attorney for Artists Equity declined to comment when reached Monday by The Associated Press. But in a March 19 response to the plaintiffs’ demand letter, Leita Walker, an attorney for Artists Equity, wrote that the film does not purport to tell the true story of that incident or portray real people, which had been stated by a disclaimer in the film’s credits.

Although Smith and Santana aren’t named in the film, the lawsuit claims that Santana was serving as the lead detective assigned to the real case, and Smith was the sergeant who supervised the investigative team. The film’s inclusion of real details about the case gives the impression that the characters are based on the plaintiffs, the suit said.

And this, the lawsuit claims, has given friends, family members and colleagues the impression that the plaintiffs committed the criminal acts that appear in the film, which include (SPOILER ALERT) conspiring to steal seized drug money, murdering a supervising officer, communicating with cartel members, committing arson in a residential neighborhood, endangering the lives of civilians, repeatedly violating core law-enforcement protocols and executing a federal agent rather than making an arrest.

Walker wrote in March that the plaintiffs haven’t even identified which particular character is supposed to be based on Smith or Santana, so even if “The Rip” was actually about a real-life narcotics team, there’s no way to connect any of the characters to the plaintiffs.

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“The Rip,” directed by Joe Carnahan, debuted in January on Netflix. It’s currently rated 78% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

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South Florida and Miami news today

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South Florida and Miami news today


You’re watching the NBC6 South Florida News streaming channel, which plays local South Florida news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can find the “NBC6 South Florida News” streaming channel on your phone or computer, and on Peacock, Samsung, Roku, Xumo or on our app, so you can watch our local news on your schedule.



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Palm Bay, Florida parents of premature twins held NICU wedding

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Palm Bay, Florida parents of premature twins held NICU wedding


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  • A Florida couple, both with prior health issues, welcomed miracle twin boys nine weeks prematurely.
  • The couple’s planned wedding was interrupted by the early birth of their sons, Joshua and Rhett.

Ben and Danielle Cassidy were told they likely wouldn’t be able to have children.

But this year they will celebrate Mother’s Day just months after having an impromptu wedding in the AdventHealth for Children hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit shortly after Danielle gave birth to twins prematurely — a week before the Palm Bay couple was scheduled to get married.

Both babies, Joshua and Rhett, are doing well despite arriving nine weeks ahead of schedule on Jan. 19, 2026, just one day after their scheduled baby shower. With a proper wedding out of the question with two premature babies in the NICU, a nurse took action.

Issabel Kenkel, the nurse behind the ceremony, said she was already in wedding planning mode for her own upcoming nuptials when she found out the Cassidy family’s ceremony would be interrupted.

“I couldn’t just let them do something small. They needed decorations and something fun, so I spoke to the music therapist and the chaplain,” Kenkel said. In short order, a wedding was being planned for their hospital room and the couple was saying their vows in the company of their safely delivered newborns.

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“When we found out we could request staff members to be on our team, that’s when we requested Issabel and having that kind of consistency from someone who has such a big heart and is so kind,” Danielle said.

The hospital ceremony was all the more special because of the Cassidy family’s own health struggles.

“I have five autoimmune diseases and didn’t really think I would have kids. It’s been a rough journey. When Ben and I met, we were floored at how much a miracle it was to have kids,” Danielle said.

Ben, who battled and beat cancer, said he was worried that his prior treatment would result in negative health outcomes for his future children. Having twins for him was an unexpected blessing.

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“When we found out we were pregnant, we found it so shocking. We said, wouldn’t it be great if it was twins? It filled out our hopes and dreams list,” Ben said. “They’ve been miracles for sure.”

The Cassidy couple said there was so much fear and uncertainty when their twins were born nine weeks early. Being able to get married right away just made them feel all the better about the future.

“It was nice getting married because we didn’t have to wait any longer to make it official. It made it that much harder for her to get rid of me,” Ben said.

“The unknown made it scary,” Danielle added. “We had no idea how long we would be in the hospital. Our wedding was going to be at the beach with immediate family and parents. Having NICU babies, we realized we’d never be able to get to the beach. It was really special having the people who care for our babies be part of the ceremony.”

The couple hadn’t even planned to have a band at their wedding ceremony and now the hospital’s music therapist was performing live for them and the chaplain was conducting the ceremony, something nurse Kenkel said was just part of her job.

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“The babies are going to have the best outcomes if the families are taken care of and going home happy,” she said. “Being in the NICU is already so stressful. This is just one more thing I could do to take care of my patients.”

Tyler Vazquez is the Growth and Development Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. X: @tyler_vazquez.



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