The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Real stories, close quarters at Ivoryton
The tension and talent at a professional talent audition have always made a great scene for movies and theater. In “A Chorus Line,” it forms the heart of a crowd-pleasing musical as 17 dancers vie for the chance of a lifetime.
Todd L. Underwood, choreographer and director of a new version of the musical at Ivoryton Playhouse, said the production is using a smaller cast due to the size of Ivoryton’s stage, which starts out at 40 feet but angles in after about 10 feet back.
Underwood said that while the dancing is so iconic, other venues can do the original 1970s choreography of the show, but he will tailor it to the Ivoryton stage without losing the spectacle.
“I just decided to stay within the essence of what the original choreography was and put my own spin on it,” he said.
That means it will be “very ’70s jazz-based, ’70s social dance-based and just really trying to highlight the story, highlight the lyrics with the choreography.”
Underwood said while he normally doesn’t direct, he enjoys the challenge. But when he’s not directing, he enjoys working with directors “to see what their process is; it’s always a great learning experience for me because I get to see a different way into a situation.”
“A Chorus Line” — with such songs as “What I Did for Love,” “One,” “I Hope I Get It” by Marvin Hamlisch — was a fast hit, winning nine Tony Awards and the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It succeeds in telling the story of glory and grind in showbiz because it began as a workshop with actual dancers telling their stories (some of whom performed in the resulting musical).
Underwood said he began dancing in college after growing up in small-town Tuscumbia, Alabama. He laughs heartily when we joke that Alabama is where we would expect a New York choreographer to originate.
“That’s the sort of experience that you hear in the show. Someone is from Missouri, someone is from North Carolina. I mean, the great thing about theater is all of the participants are from everywhere — from the smallest towns to the largest cities.”
The original Broadway production ran for 6,137 performances, becoming the longest-running production in Broadway history until surpassed by “Cats” in 1997.
“I think what’s so charming about the show is that people who have no relationship with what it means to be an actor and what it takes to go through the audition process ... putting yourself out there and making yourself vulnerable ... get to see a bit of (actors’) personal story and where they began,” said Underwood, “and how they got the spark to do theater and how they got from that moment to auditioning for what is supposed to be one of the greatest Broadway musicals ever.”
The new production stars a dozen Ivoryton regulars in the cast (including Andee Buccheri, Stephanie Genito and Jared Starkey), joined by 10 first-timers at the playhouse.
So what can a viewer who maybe hasn’t seen “A Chorus Line” expect at Ivoryon in this show?
In addition to seeing “the inner workings of what is considered the first step in casting a show, you also get to see some incredible singing, some incredible acting,” said Underwood. “You get to hear people’s lives put on the line. And also you’re going to see some wonderful... performers... dancing their hearts out, singing their hearts out, really bringing this story to the front.”