A Chorus Line
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- For the 1985 movie of the same title, see A Chorus Line (film).
The musical is based on two taped sessions with Broadway dancers, including eight of the actors/actresses of the original Broadway cast. The show was conceived, directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett, with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban. The book was assembled by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante (and script-doctored by Neil Simon). It had a successful Off-Broadway run at the Public Theater before opening on Broadway.
A Chorus Line also toured successfully, including a run at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. A Broadway revival is scheduled to open at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on October 5, 2006; tickets go on sale June 18, 2006.
With 19 main characters, the setting is a Broadway theater where young dancers audition for the part in the chorus line of a musical. The show gives a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers. Highlights include the songs "One," "Nothing," "The Music and the Mirror" and "What I Did For Love."
A Chorus Line received 12 nominations for the Tony Awards in 1975, winning nine: Best Musical, Best Actress (Donna McKechnie), Best Featured Actor (Sammy Williams), Best Featured Actress (Carole Bishop), Best Director (Michael Bennett), Best Musical Book(Dante and Kirkwood), Best Score (Hamlisch and Kleban), Best Lighting design (Tharon Musser) and Best Choreographer (Michael Bennett and Bob Avian). It also won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for drama, one of the few musicals ever to receive this honor.
Synopsis
At an audition for an upcoming Broadway production, a director and a choreography assistant choose seventeen dancers. The director tells them he is looking for a strong dancing chorus of four boys and four girls, and he wants to learn more about them. They are then told to talk about themselves.In I Hope I Get It, we are watching the beginning of the final phase of a Broadway tryout. A rehearsal piano plays as groups of dancers in rehearsal clothes vanish and reappear. The dancers eventually surge forward into a line, holding their eight-by-ten inch head shots in front of them.
After the director, Zach, informs the dancers that he wants to know more about them, they begin with great reluctance to talk, revealing portions of their life stories. In order to get this job, they must put themselves on the line. While the show uses different characters to move through the audition, the overall pattern of stories progresses chronologically from early life experiences through adulthood to the end of a career.
The first candidate is Bobby, who tries to hide the unhappiness of his childhood by making jokes. Next, I Can Do That has Mike recall his first experience with dance, watching his sister's dance class when he was a pre-schooler. Certain he could do it too, he took her place one day when she refused to go to class – and he stayed the rest of his life. The seventeen dancers' inner misgivings about this strange audition process (And), but they all need the job so the session continues.
Zach starts to question the girls and becomes angry since he thinks that the candidates do not take the audition seriously. The girls start to open up and sing At The Ballet, a poignant tribute to the escape Sheila, Bebe, and Maggie found in the beauty of ballet. Sheila's mother married at a young age and her father neither loved nor cared for them. She realises that ballet is a relief from her family life. Bebe adds that she likes ballet as she was not beautiful as a child and everything in ballet seems beautiful. Moreover, Maggie says that she loves ballet because in the ballet someone is always there, unlike the father she has never had.
The next ones are a husband and wife, Kristine and Al. Kristine speaks, with Al finishing her sentences. Sing makes it cringe-ably clear that Kristine is tone deaf and Zach moves on to Mark, a young dancer guy who is eager to be in Broadway. His stories lead into Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love, a montage sequence in which all of the dancers share memories of their traumatic early teens. Greogory, speaks about his homosexuality and Diana's recollects on her horrible high school acting class (Nothing). Dance Ten, Looks Three follows, with Val's explanation that talent doesn't count for everything with casting directors. A wrenching monologue follows in which the emotionally vulnerable Paul comes to terms with his early career, manhood, and sense of self.
The Music and The Mirror tells of Cassie's love of dance. She is a terrific veteran "gypsy" who has had some notable successes as a soloist. She may be, in fact, too good for a chorus part. But she needs the work. Even more, she needs to dance. Her complex relationship with Zach comes into play in the first rendition of One, where Zach and Cassie confront each other and their romantic past.
After Paul falls injured and is carried off, the director asks the remaining dancers what they will do when they can no longer dance. What I Did For Love expresses the emotional drive that keeps these dancers focused, ever hopeful and free of regrets. This number fades into the final elimination process as the final eight dancers are selected: Cassie, Bobby, Diana, Judy, Val, Mike, Mark and Richie.
One (reprise)/finale begins with an individual bow for each of the nineteen characters, their hodgepodge rehearsal clothes replaced by identical spangled gold costumes. As each dancer joins the group, it is suddenly difficult to distinguish one form the other. Each character who was an individual to the audience is now an anonymous member of an ensemble.
Musical numbers
- "I Hope I Get It" (Company)
- "I Can Do That" (Mike)
- "And..." (Bobby, Richie, Val and Judy)
- "At the Ballet" (Sheila, Bebe and Maggie)
- "Sing!" (Kristine, Al and cast)
- "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love" (Company)
- "Nothing" (Diana)
- "Dance: Ten; Looks: Three" (Val)
- "The Music and the Mirror" (Cassie)
- "One" (Cast)
- "The Tap Combination" (Company)
- "What I Did for Love" (Diana and Company)
- "One" (Reprise) (Company)
1985 film
The film adaptation, A Chorus Line, released in 1985 by Columbia Pictures, stars Michael Douglas as the director. Favorably reviewed by Roger Ebert and others, it was nominated for three Academy Awards and two Golden Globes. Adapted for the screen by Arnold Schulman and directed by Richard Attenborough, the film had several changes, including a different ending, a reduction of homosexual elements and an expansion of the role of Cassie and her romance with Zach.2006 revival
The show is being re-mounted at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater scheduled for an October 5 opening (with previews beginning September 18 after a San Francisco run scheduled for July 23 to September 2), with direction by the show's original co-choreographer, Bob Avian, with the choreography reconstructed by the show's original Connie Wong, Baayork Lee. The cast includes Charlotte d'Amboise as Cassie, Dierdre Goodwin as Sheila, Paul McGill as Mark, Heather Parcells as Judy, and James T. Lane as Richie.External links
- [Plot Summary & Character Descriptions for A Chorus Line]on [StageAgent]
- [AChorusLine.org]
- [Lyrics to the entire score (two pages)]
- [A discussion about the making of A Chorus Line]
- [New York City Theatre Guide]
- [Official Broadway 2006 production website]
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