Let's Have a Look at… Nadene Isenegger
The legendary musical "A Chorus Line" is set to have a big Broadway revival in October. The show, drawn from interviews with each of the original dancers, was a startling success first time around, and the role of Cassie made dancer Donna McKechnie a star. In the new production, Charlotte D'Amboise will take over Cassie, and her understudy will be Nadene Isenegger, a dancer with a rolodex of experiences - none so fascinating and fulfilling as this role.
For as long as Isenegger can remember, she has been in show business, beginning with the little pointe solos in small theaters in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. "I didn't have a ballet body and didn't enjoy ballet," she said. "I loved all my jazz classes and while at college I took classes with people from Hubbard Street. I went to Chicago in my senior year, and they offered me a scholarship. However, it meant I would have to go back into another school at Hubbard Street, so I turned it down and came home jobless." She took a 6-month gig in Japan, saved some money, learned Japanese, then returned to New York, promptly used up her money (she discovered that living in the city is not cheap) and by necessity embarked on a typical unemployed dancer's career -waitressing which did not take off with any appreciable promise.
"Irresponsible," she noted, lowering her eyes dramatically. "I was irresponsible! Lunch hour is the hoppin' time for a waitress, and that is also the prime time for auditions. So I would give away my tables and my tips, race out to the audition, not get the job, and return to the afternoon shift when there were no customers. Not a good way to pay the rent, but at least I could say I didn't miss a chance for a dance job."
Fortune smiled on Isenegger when Liza Gennaro took her for the Goodspeed production of "Kiss Me Kate." "I could not quit the restaurant fast enough," she declared. Since then she has understudied both the role of Peggy Sawyer in "42nd Street" going on many times, and performed the role of Cassie in a small revival of "A Chorus Line" at the Paper Mill Playhouse. Bayoork Lee was the director there, and rumors were flying that a revival for Broadway was in the works. The prospect was on again off again, and finally fizzled out. But the hope of being in the revival, should it ever be a reality, had mulled around in Isenegger's head for a long time. "I am getting into this revival, when it comes about," she had promised herself, "no matter what!"
I caught up with Isenegger in her lunch break during a long day of rehearsing. She had propped up her legs, wrapped in warmers, on the chair in front of her, opened an overstuffed sandwich and a bottle of water, and recalled her circuitous route to "A Chorus Line." "There had been a month of intensive auditions for the role of Cassie," she said. "By the end, I had all but convinced myself I would not be singing, 'The Music And The Mirror" on stage anytime soon. After auditions for the roles of Cassie, plus Judy, and Val, there was no positive response or contract forthcoming. She thought she had circled the drain and fallen through. Though she believed the show's producers really wanted her, she also felt they had not a clue where to put her.
"Around this time, my Mom came for a visit," she said, "and her words to me were 'you know Nadine, I have a feeling that this 'chorus line' thing is not over for you. I said, 'Mom, it's over. They have already announced the cast. It is over!" Not twenty minutes later the phone rang. "Are you sitting down?" It was the familiar voice of her manager. "This call doesn't have anything to do with 'Chorus Line,' does it?" Isenegger asked, somehow sensing what her telepathic mom had known long before.
She was hesitant to say that her mom's premonitions had anything to do with the turnaround, but it seemed too quirky to be logically explained. Whatever the reason, Isenegger was offered the understudy role. "My manager said they wanted to know if I would be interested in taking it on," she laughed. "I tried to make my 'yes' answer sound somewhat casual,"
The role of Cassie is a killer because the actress must sing, dance, then sing again, then dance again, then do a scene, all in a row without a drink of water or a moment to wipe the sweat off. "I am relearning the role now," Isenegger admitted. "It's not there from years ago. I keep asking the director and vocal coach -'does it get easier?" But she can feel it is already getting easier. "I run the piece every day," she explained, "then stay at night to run it twice by myself just to build up stamina. Charlotte and I work together through lunch, and if she is busy, I go in by myself. My cast mates look at my face, beet red and dripping wet - we call it a 'Cassie' shower. At least I can get through it now without falling over."
Her day starts at the theater with a warm-up designed by director Lee to meld with the things the cast must do in the show. "We bring our mats and towels and sweat. Bayoork refers to us as a repertory company, because we are always together. We never leave the line though I am one of six who get cut in the first big audition scene. Then I go off stage and join the singers and orchestra. I am working the entire show even though my role is as an understudy."
Bottom line of "A Chorus Line" is the desperation with which each of the twelve dancers "...needs this job." It is an intense emotional tale and perhaps Cassie, among them, is the most needy because she is older, wiser, and more shopworn. "I hope Bob Avian will work with me to help me define my character," Isenegger said. "There is so much to Cassie. And I do have Charlotte to watch as a great role model."
This show is about how we live as dancers day by day," she reflected. "Cassie, in spite of her age, needs the job just as we all need a job. Most people haven't a clue what dancers go through at auditions. We are very naked up there on stage. I guess all job interviews are tough. But if you're rejected because of your typing skills - well, at least it's not your soul that is being rejected." Talk about reality shows...."A Chorus Line" was way ahead of its time.