The show hit Broadway on 25th July 1975, going on to be nominated for twelve Tony Awards, winning nine of them. Anyone who has seen A Chorus Line knows it is a celebration of dance and dancers as much as it is about how a musical is made. It was first conceived through a workshop with dancers telling their stories to Michael Bennett, the director and choreographer, who recorded them. The experiment evolved so that these recordings of their life experiences turned into those of the characters on stage.
There’s not much of a plot, but what there is of it is based around the dancers. We are presented with a bare set, a rehearsal room, giving the audience a peep backstage. Seventeen dancers are auditioning for only eight places and all are nervous as they are fighting for their livelihood. The song, ‘I Hope I Get It’ expresses each of their anxieties. Not only are they put through their paces, they are told to talk about themselves. If there is a protagonist, it is the choreographer and director Zach, played commandingly by Adam Cooper, pulling the musical together, but really this is just the framework for the action in which the dancers are central.
While Zach is aiming for perfection, the dancers are desperate to earn a living doing what they love. Zach wants to see the dancers dance, but he also wants to hear their motivation. ‘’Why do you want to dance?’ What would you do if you could never dance again?’ Each dancer runs through their childhood, their biographies full of hateful fathers, mothers living their dreams through their daughters, how being gay affected them…each with their own concerns – one can’t sing, one is too short, age perhaps is the biggest fear for all of them.
We hear Val who grew up asking ‘Where are my tits?’ and even when she became a dancer, however good, her appearance was against her. At auditions, she was scored ‘Dance: Ten; Looks: Three’ which becomes the theme of her character-defining song, with its refrain ‘tits and ass’. Plastic surgery does the trick and makes her into a fully-fledged chorus line member. Paul, a Puerto Rican dancer relates how he grew up in a family which had no background in the arts and decided to assume an Italian name, his family first see him in costume when he is performing in a drag act in a sleazy theatre.
The fragility of the dancers’ careers is obvious. Cassie, Zach’s ex-lover, had been taken by him from a chorus line and made a star, but now her work had dried up. She has come back to rejoin the chorus line where at least she can dance. There is an incident when a dancer suffers a fracture on a previously broken leg and everyone realises their career could be over in a second.
The original A Chorus Line was said to have ‘changed musical theatre forever’ according to the programme, so there is a lot to live up to. This production does that, notably in a great show stopping end number where the individuals are now working as a team, all in identical sparkly gold costumes. The cast is exuberant and throw everything at the dance routines and songs. There is a stand-out performance by Amy Thornton who I spotted as soon as she walked on stage.
The story goes that once the musical was being produced, Bennett’s solicitor told him to buy out the dancers with release forms offering each of them $1. It went on to create such a success on Broadway, it ran to over 6000 performances. Let’s hope for the same success for this vibrant cast….and that they get paid better.
Musical
Playwright: James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante
Music: Marvin Hamilsch & Lyrics: Edward Kleban
Original Conception & Director: Michael Bennet. Director: Nikolai Foster
Original Choreographers: Michael Bennett & Bob Avian, Choreographer: Ellen Kane
Cast: Adam Cooper, Carly Mercedes Dyer, Jocasta Almgill, Yuki Abe, Fin Adams, Lydia Bannister, Bradely Gardener, Katrina Dix, Archie Durrant, Imogen Rose HArt, Laura Hills, Joshua Lay. Katie Lee, Josh Kiernan. Mireia Mambo, Kanako Nakano, Manueal Pacific, Ashley-Jordan Packer, Kate Parr, Rachael Jayne Picar, Redmond Rance, Chloe Saunders, Toby Seddon, Joshua Steel, Amy Thornton, Louie Wood.
Until: 25 August 2024
Performance times: 2.30 & 7.30pm Running Time: 1hr 55 mins, no interval