5-6-7-8! - “A Chorus Line” begins its run on Broadway... Get your tickets!
5-6-7-8! Zach (Michael Berresse) screams out from the back of the theater, and the stage is suddenly flooded with dancers, energy, music, and multi-colored practice clothes. "A Chorus Line," the highly touted Broadway revival, is about to begin. Everyone knows how the late Michael Bennett brought a group of dancers together in a room and tape-recorded their stories about life, love, and the pursuit of a job on Broadway. He then fashioned this material into a smash hit musical that ran for 15 years. For those of us who saw the original version in 1975 at the Joseph Papp Theater memories of the first cast could not help but be evoked. Some of these original performers have gone to bigger careers in the theater; some fell victim to the rampaging AIDS epidemic (as did Michael Bennett); others married, settled families far from New York and the Broadway stage, but all retained the memory that this was a special happening -- a spectacular hit far exceeding any expectations. We are also are aware that some of the dancers felt used and angry at spilling their inner most stories and not participating in the flow of monies the show has generated.
Nonetheless, there is an eagerness in the dance community to see what another generation of performers does with the material so lovingly remembered as one of the finest musicals ever. For the most part the new folks do just fine.
The show was resurrected with utmost care -- every last note, step, and leg warmer in place meticulously recreated by the original team of Bob Avian (co-choreographer to Bennett and now director) Theoni V. Aldredge (costumes,) Tharon Musser (lighting design,) and all the Marvin Hamlisch music and Edward Kleban lyrics. Baayork Lee, a part of the original cast and Michael Bennett's assistant choreographer has reconstructed all the original choreography for this production.
Zach and Cassie (Berresse and Charlotte D'Amboise) are the main twosome. We are told that she needs this job, and he thinks she is overqualified. They were once lovers split by the problems of he being a workaholic and she striving in Hollywood to go beyond being a chorus dancer. Not for one minute does one believe these two performers had any emotional attachment or still do. Charisma seems lacking. Even when he gives in and includes her in the final cut, we don't believe it is because she was once a dear part of his life. After all, business is business especially show business. She is chosen, because she can dance. And how! D'Amboise's dancing is core driven, heart stirring, and radiant. In her wrap-around red dress she just plain takes one's breath away. Berresse, as the Bennett figure, is supposed to be tough, probing, and without emotion. Yet he is hard put to hide a humanity that creeps into his portrayal every so often as he scans the line and asks his questions.
Natalie Cortez as Diana (no one will forget Priscilla Lopez singing about her drama teacher at the high school of Performing Arts) has too many distracting mannerisms delivering "What I Did For Love." Jason Tam as Paul, who has a sad background as the young drag dancer, moves flawlessly but overkills his story; and Diedre Goodwin as Sheila sashays across the floor flaunting her statuesque physique, but not convincing us that "Everything is Beautiful at the Ballet."
Hearing Jessica Lee Goldyn as Val, gleefully singing about her purchase of "Tits and Ass," is to instantly love her. She has solved once and for all the problem of getting hired for a Broadway show, and advises the others to think seriously about making a similar investment. Pay special attention to Yuka Takara who takes her short stature in stride, explaining with crinkly eyes and a scrunchy smile that, by the way, she was not too short for the "Little House of Uncle Thomas." Chryssie Whitehead and Tony Yazbeck as the madly in love husband / wife team make "Sing" a standout number even though she reminds us she can't sing.
Today there is a different approach to the audition process from where it was in Bennett's day. This tends to make the show seem, to coin an ugly word, "dated." Now there are agent submissions and A-Listers, dancers who have worked for the same choreographers many times. Expensive musicals can't take chances with undependable talent from the get go. Union rules do state the necessity for an open call, and there are "cattle calls" for the hordes of non-union dancers, yet the scenarios where the cherubic dancer from Oshkosh comes to New York "with stars in her eyes" and makes it from a "line" are few and far between.
For this show, if further auditions do not offer up the "right" one, there are always the faithful "Chorus Line" groupies who have seen the show over and over again in its first run and will undoubtedly repeat the process this time around. One sat behind me and remarked to her friend that if need be she could take over for anyone of the performers. The line outside the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on West 46th Street is long, filled with groupies, tourists, and curious theatergoers. It is much longer than the one inside on stage--however it is worth staying the course to buy a ticket.