BATTLE FOR BROADWAY
The kids are all right in A Chorus Line
God, I hope I get it! God, I really blew it! Oh God, I need a job!
The opening number of one of the great American musicals doesn’t waste any time getting to the point. Twenty-one dancers are auditioning for eight available spots in the chorus. Their desperation is palpable. Long before reality TV gave us Survivor, American Idol, The Apprentice and the rest, there was A Chorus Line.
Who’s going to get kicked off the island? Who will emerge a star? Stars need not apply. Competing to be background dancers on Broadway, they have to prove they can submerge their individuality in the group. Only Cassie (Lucia Forward) has been a featured performer. But with her career sinking, she only wants to get back in the line.
Director Zach (Chris King) is no vicious Trump or sarcastic Simon Fuller. Stern and demanding but fair, he requires each performer to talk, to reveal something about the person behind the technique.
First up, Mike (Greg Liow) tells about watching his little sister in dance class. His solo number, I Can Do That, is a tour de force. Liow doesn’t have a great voice but he’s a fantastic dancer, the best of the boys. It’s a good bet that Mike will make the cut.
One by one we hear from the others, many of their responses incorporated in group numbers At the Ballet and Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love. Common denominators emerge: dysfunctional families, poor selfimage. For most of them, feeling like outsiders, dance has been rebellion and salvation. Grimaces tell much of the story.
All the characters get at least a brief chance to define themselves and many stand out in this Fighting Chance production. Married couple Al (Kaden Chad) and Kristine (Kailley Roessler) sing a funny duet about her terrible voice. Fourfoot-10 Connie (Jolene Bernardino) has a strong segment
about being “a peanut on point.”
Val (Lindsay Marshall) shines in Dance: Ten, Looks: Three, lyricist Edward Kleban’s witty and ironic song about how plastic surgery changed an ugly, flatchested failure into an attractive success. Dynamic Diana (Vanessa Quarinto) captures the joy and excitement of being a dancer in the anthemic What I Did for Love.
A moving monologue by Paul (Jesse Alvarez) also showcases the agony and ecstasy of the dancer’s life, as does the highlight of the show, Cassie’s star turn, The Music and the Mirror. Forward’s excellent voice and spectacular dancing make it even more difficult for Cassie to persuade Chris to cast her in the chorus.
A Chorus Line tries to tell so many individual stories that many of the character studies get shortchanged, Chris and Cassie’s relationship and Chris’ own ambitions among them.
But that’s a minor flaw in an intelligent, exhilarating show. Rachael Carlson’s clean direction and choreography reinvigorate the original work of legendary director/choreographer Michael Bennett. Music director Arielle Ballance and her five-piece band do wonders with Marvin Hamlisch’s marvellous music.
When the final cut is made at the end you don’t want any of these beautiful kids to go.