Happy 50th anniversary to A Chorus Line

Picture: Roy Tan

Jeremy Chapman writes…

Broadway loves celebrating its anniversaries and, hot on the heels of the 50th for Chicago, the wonderful A Chorus Line reached that landmark on 25 July when members of the original Shubert Theatre cast, including Baayork Lee, who directed the reunion, took part. There were special performances too by Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, Bebe Neuwirth and Charlotte d’Amboise, and Michael Bennett and Bob Avian’s original choreography recalled.

And if ever a concept was worth celebrating it is the Marvin Hamlisch/Edward Kleban collaboration with Tony Award-winning director Bennett. It was Englishman Bennett and Broadway dancers Michon Peacock and Tony Stevens who workshopped the idea of 17 showbiz strivers struggling to catch the eye of choreographer Zach as he holds auditions to find four male and four female dancers for his new Broadway show.

First of all, it was a novelty – no large scenery, no costumes other than audition gear until the spectacular finale, no interval, no star (although Bennett’s future wife Donna McKechnie revived a flagging career as Cassie, based on her own as a 1960s lead dancer whose star had dimmed).

Secondly, it was a story manufactured from the very heart of a struggling Broadway. Dancers, all talented but out of work, had stories to tell, of childhood traumas and sexual abuse, of the fear of rejection personally and professionally, and the desperate shared passion to be in a Broadway show. From the moment the curtain goes up and “Again… 2-4-6-8” from the director and the “I hope I get it… I really need this job” we, the audience, are immediately involved in their trials and tribulations. It is a very personal show and we feel their pain, their hopes and their dreams. It is one of the few musicals where I have cried.

Picture: Marc Brenner

And what a score Hamlisch and lyricist Kleban teased from the book by James Kirkwood Jr and Nicholas Dante: classics like ‘What I Did For Love’, ‘At the Ballet’ and ‘The Music and the Mirror’, the last-named principally responsible for McKechnie winning one of the nine Tonys the show picked up that year before transferring to the West End but curiously omitted from the 1985 movie version.

And that gloriously funny ‘Dance: Ten. Looks: Three’ where Val reveals how silicone and “this and that” have changed her life by upgrading her physical attributes: “Tits and ass, bought myself a fancy pair, tightened up the derrière… Suddenly I’m getting nash’nal tours!”

All those gems and some of the most sensational dancing and high-kicking you’ll ever see, plus a story that melts your heart. What’s not to like? The public most certainly did. It was the centrepiece for New York City tourist promotion and with its 3,389th performance in 1983 A Chorus Line became the longest-running musical in Broadway history… until 1997 anyway. By 1990 the show had clocked up 6,137 performances there alone.

Surprisingly, the movie starring Michael Douglas and directed by Richard Attenborough bombed, costing $23 million and recouping only $14 million of the outlay. Such a shame as, even with the song and story changes, I could cheerfully watch it once a month. The themes still resonate, there was something for everyone, and that earworm “One singular sensation, every little step she takes… do I really have to mention, she’s the one!” still drives everyone mad. Musicals don’t come much better.