Two intense dance-filled nights in a row in Kleist Auditorium (I just had to see both casts) showed this music theatre fan why A Chorus Line keeps high kicking and, based on this stellar production, why it should continue to be a source of theatrical delight.
It’s a simple frame story: as seventeen dancers audition for eight spots in the chorus we hear about their lives when the director interviews them. Sometimes we even overhear their thoughts — usually their thoughts are pretty simple — “I really need this job, I hope I get it.”
What really makes this show work, however, is the way the dancers combine in an ensemble to create something even more beautiful, far stronger, than their own considerable talents can create alone. This is not to say scenes with individual stories were not also fascinating, as in, for example Cassie’s story.
Cassie is “old” for the dance world (she’s in her early 30s). She and the Director (Zack Adkins/Gabriel Brown) have a “history,” but as she dances “Music and the Mirror” (where a tri-fold reflection magnifies every gesture and step) she proves she’s still compelling. This impressionistic number can reflect individual interpretation to a surprising degree, as the two Cassies demonstrated. On opening night, Julia Hine’s Cassie showed a dreamy desperate intensity while the next night Genna-Paige Kanago’s equally graceful Cassie exhibited a gleeful determination. Both made us cross our fingers, hoping she got the job.
All of this comes from the combined efforts of director Victoria Bussert, music director David Pepin, and especially choreographer Gregory Daniels, whose effective and beautiful re-creation of Michael Bennett’s original 1975 choreography leaves one breathless, understanding why it won multiple Tony Awards and appreciating the dedication of the young cast.
Here, the double-cast show features a beautiful, stunningly competent (and different) ensemble on alternating nights. (If they were a sports team I’d say the line was deep). Athletic? Yes, but here we have athletes who must also sing and dance at the same time — rather daunting feat, right?
Near the end, after we’ve heard many stories about what pushes each one to dance, the company joins Diana (Isabel Plana/Mackenzie Wright) in “What I Did for Love,” probably the show’s best-known song. As the others gradually join her in song, we glimpse the joy and the tragedy in tying one’s whole sense of well-being to one thing: in this case, dance. And yet, somehow it kinda seems like a great idea.
Bottom Line: When the cast emerges dressed in glittery gold outfits for the finale, including a spectacular spinning wheel, they become even more magical, another being almost, as they show the surprising power of a chorus line — especially this version.
This production in the John Patrick Theatre in Kleist Auditorium on the Baldwin Wallace University campus in Berea features music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, with book by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Charlotte M. Yetman’s costumes and Jeff Herrmann’s scene design played a large part in crafting an ever-shifting impression of music, and motion working as one.
Remaining performances are November 20-22, 7:30 pm with 2 p.m. matinees November 22 and 23.
http://bw.edu/news/a_chorus_line
Laura Kennelly is a freelance arts journalist, a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, and an associate editor of BACH, a scholarly journal devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle.Listening to and learning more about music has been a life-long passion. She knows there’s no better place to do that than the Cleveland area.
Berea, OH 44017