“‘Musical Comedy’: the two most glorious words in the English language!” declares Julian Marsh, fictional director and one of the main characters of Maine State Music Theatre’s final show of its 54th season, “42nd Street.”

Yes, MSMT bookended the summer with two backstage shows, both classics that focus on the hard work and chance involved to making it on the Great White Way and both are honest in their portrayals, as director Charles Repole notes in the playbill.

Where the season’s opening show, “A Chorus Line,” offered the audience a glimpse into the heartbreaking lives of the chorus members, “42nd Street” is a humor-filled tale of Peggy Sawyer, fresh off the train from Allentown, Pa., who gets the lucky break to make it on Broadway. Of course it isn’t that easy for her or it wouldn’t be a musical comedy.

Younger audience members might be surprised to learn that “42nd Street” is based on a 1933 Warner Bros. movie of the same name choreographed by the great Busby Berkeley. The musical didn’t arrive until 1980 but maintained most of the original film’s content. It is a real treat to see a Busby Berkeley-style extravaganza in this day and age. Of course live theater and film are two very different mediums but Repole and choreographer Michael Lichtefeld must be applauded for capturing the 1930s style.

When the house lights dim and the orchestra plays the medley overture at the start of the show, the curtain rises only a few feet so that the audience can concentrate on the dancers’ shoes. A tap tap tap tattoo tells the audience that the drama of Sunset Boulevard is over, these actors are here to dance!

The metallic rhythm increases, excitement builds and one can almost imagine that Ginger Rogers will arise and reprise her role as Anytime Annie. A dance number later in the first act hearkens to an Esther Williams’ routine — fabulous! It is Peggy Sawyer’s “hoofin’ feet” that get her noticed but it is no small feat that the chorus nimbly tap dance around MSMT’s small stage without knocking knees or noggins.

The audience isn’t sucked in by nostalgia; simply put, the dancing is superb.

After the opening number, “42nd Street” rolls on with the plot: Julian Marsh, played by tall dark and handsome Patrick Ryan Sullivan, is an established director but he needs a successful show. It is 1933 and he’d like to keep the 100 or so crew members who work for him in a job. He has a new musical, “Pretty Lady” and he has reluctantly cast the famous but long in the tooth Dorothy Brock, brilliantly played by Karen Edissi, as the star. But it is only because she comes with purse strings attached, in the form of her bankrolling millionaire boyfriend, Abner Dillon, played by Glenn Anderson, who has perfected this dual role of cowboy/sugar daddy as last seen in “Crazy for You.”

Crowd favorite Charis Leos as usual stands out as Marsh’s writer, playing Maggie Jones as a salt of the earth type character and, with energetic and wise Raymond Marc Dumont as Stage Manager Andy Lee, keep Julian Marsh from losing his temper with diva Dorothy. When Peggy, performed by the knockout Alessa Neeck, lands a spot in the chorus, it is clearly only a matter of time before things come to a showdown between the bright young thing and the over the hill prima donna.

However both women have more than meets the eye and it is due to the talent of this wonderful cast that not one character is a two dimensional stock figure. Sure the plot goes where predicted but the trip — literally and figuratively — is a joyride.

The combination of witty lines, snappy tapping, and catchy tunes is why “42nd Street” has successfully endured the test of time and MSMT’s production is stellar.

Great performances are more than just about the people on stage. What makes “42nd Street” a wonderful show is how the crew of Maine State Music Theatre produce such fine stage crafting. The use of the entire stage, shifting the action from stage right to left, front to back, keeps the perspective constantly changing so the scenes are never static.

Any theater worth its weight can make do with little but the set dressing and use of props are even more creative than usual here. One minute the chorus is swinging suitcases and luggage as part of a dance number, the next those same reticules become seats on a train and strobe lighting, smoke effect and light tap dancing complete the illusion.

One song in particular, “Shadow Waltz,” featuring Dorothy, Maggie and the female chorus members, effectively makes use of two “shin busters,” or knee-high stage lights, to create shadows on the back drop. A little shadow puppet humor levitates the gravitas of the song’s lyrics — so watch for it. It just proves that something simple can create the best atmosphere.

The only criticism of the set design is a rather disturbing portrait of the “pretty lady” on a scrim used in the second act for the show’s fictional musical. The face resembles Peggy’s but her open mouth is off-putting and her features look oddly distorted. Luckily, it isn’t on stage often as the scene changes are frequent.

Maggie has a line about the orchestra, delivered in Leos’ gum-cracking wiseacre style, “We keep them in the pit … and for a very good reason.” This and a few other wonderfully ironic digs were written into the original script, not directed personally to this particular pit orchestra. The jocular jibes contradict the truth that some of MSMT’s most talented stars are offstage: the musicians led by musical director Jason Wetzel.

“42nd Street” is a challenging musical for the sound engineer as well, since it can be hard to balance the dialogue, the tap and the music — all while listening over the audience’s laughter. Bravo to those responsible for making the music in this musical sound spectacular.

Counter to the simple set designs are some breathtakingly beautiful costumes. Dorothy especially gets to wear some frothy delights that flatter a women “of a certain age” and most of the other costumes flatter their wearers. A few color choices are fine individually but don’t work as an ensemble, such as purple plaid next to a bright pink gingham. For the most part, the wardrobe suits the time period and doesn’t detract from the dancing, even if it is a bit more colorful than what would have been worn in reality. No giant feather headdresses here. The focus is on the feet and by the final song, the audience was clapping along to the beat.

When introducing the show, WGME’s news anchor Kim Block applauded Steve Peterson for “putting on a show in the middle of a great depression” and even though it was meant as a joke, the reality is that Maine State Music Theatre relies on generous donations to continue bringing Broadway quality shows to small town Brunswick. Since in these hard times many people cannot afford a regular price ticket to a single show, Atlantic Regional Federal Credit Union is sponsoring MSMT’s last “Pay–What-You- Can” for available seats to tonight’s performances. Take advantage of it by going to the box office at Pickard Theater and purchase unsold tickets for what you can afford, and enjoy the season’s fantastic final show.