The
original Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett,
was an unprecedented box office and critical hit, receiving 12 Tony Award
nominations and winning nine of them. It remains the fifth longest-running
Broadway show ever. The show has enjoyed many successful productions worldwide
and was revived on Broadway in 2006.
One
of the greatest nights in the theatre for me was in 1976 at the opening night of
the Australian premiere at Her Majesty Theatre down at Chinatown. There was a
lot of hype and in those times openings were very glamorous affairs, I’ll never
forget we attended as a group of Les Girls
showgirls and we had tickets about four or five rows from the back in the
circle. Those circle seats at Her Maj were as steep as all hell and just
getting in and out was hilarious – sorry but I digress the revival bit set me
off.
So true to the
original, this production is directed and choreographed by Baayork Lee, Michael
Bennett’s assistant who played out her life story as Connie Wong in the
original production of A Chorus Line on Broadway. Now, trained by
Bennett himself, she travels the world mounting productions of this seminal
musical.
With
nineteen main characters, it is set on the bare stage of a Broadway theatre
during an audition for a musical. The show provides 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. It’s
often referred to as the dancer’s musical.
The
shows opens with tryout auditions in full swing under the supervision of the
director Zach, played here by Josh Horner
of Dancing with the Stars and Billy Elliot fame. He is a wonderful
dancer with enormous stage presence and perfectly cast as Zach.
From
here the pace and style started to show its age; it’s a different energy were
used to now. Some of the stories don’t have
the punch they did in the mid 70’s and lots of audience sitting around us got
very unsettled – off to the candy bar the lou - whatever. This show is played
at two hours without an interval and holding the audience can be tricky.
Tits and Ass yes that got
everyone’s attention, it’s the song Dance
ten looks three and comes about halfway, its sung by Val Clark, (Hayley
Winch) a foul-mouthed but excellent dancer who couldn't get performing jobs
because of her looks until she had plastic surgery. It’s still a brilliant
showtune and she was great.
From
here the whole show seemed to lift and when we came to, what I think is the
highlight here, Cassie Ferguson (Anita Louise Combe) a once successful solo dancer down on her luck
and a former love of Zach's and the
well-known solo The Music and the Mirror it’s
magic.
One of the
most touching moments in the show comes when Zach calls Paul (Euan Doidge) to
the stage to tell his story. Paul San Marco is a gay Puerto Rican who dropped
out of high school and survived a troubled childhood to perform in a drag show.
The script is original remember and drag still had mixed connotations then.
Here a drag show is referred to as the arse-end of show business and drag
queens as freaks. We’ve travelled a long way from that point in the search for
inclusion and respect to hear these words – which I once heard frequently -
made me wince. It was sad for me to see a new audience being educated to this
kind of out dated language.
This
show includes the song What I did for
love which sits in my personal Broadway showtunes top ten – alas I was
disappointed to hear it sung in this production. It is sung pre-finale and as a
love song to dance by Diana Morales (Karlee Misipeka) and I just wonder how much more could
have been made of it if sung by one of the stronger singers (Cassie perhaps) –
just one alteration to the script.
The finale to A Chorus Line is one of the greatest
Broadway show spectaculars – all dancers together in a line belting the famous
“one singular sensation” and it was. If you have never seen A Chorus Line before it’s a must as part
of life’s Broadway classic education. If like me you enjoyed it the first time
around, in a very different time, then you might find this revival a tad
patchy.
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