A Chorus Line #1
OPENING: October 19, 1975
CLOSING: April 28, 1990
Seen: January 1977
LOCATION: Shubert Theatre
To all my fellow performing Theatre Kids out there: what’s your definition of purgatory?
If you’re anything like me, it’s that place of ultimate despair, of raging anxiety, of dashed hopes and cutthroat competition: The Audition Room.
For my non-performing Theatre Kids, the Audition Room is a place of sheer terror. Casting directors are always rooting for you to do well, they want to get to know you. But The Audition Room is a place where you have to show up looking cute, despite rainy/snowy days. And when you do get there, there is the very real possibility that you walk in the door and immediately are dismissed for being too short, having the wrong hair color, or in someway just not the physical image of what the strangers behind the table are looking for. If you do get to showcase your talents, you have to deal with side eyes from other auditioners who look exactly like you or casting associates who don’t bother looking up from their phones while you belt out your number.
The above scenarios are not typical, but I have experienced every one of them at some point. And the casting directors really do want you to do well, in my many years of auditioning I’ve only had one casting associate pay more attention to his phone than to me. The production will remain nameless but it’s still running at the time of this writing.
But I digress.
This performer purgatory is not a new phenomenon. And it’s the theme behind the 1975 smash hit A Chorus Line.
As this blog has previously mentioned, the 1970s was a time of change for the 1970s. Gone were the days when musicals were primarily made up of huge ensembles. The new landscape consisted of smaller casts and much grittier material. Some of these shows, such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Pippin, did include ensembles, but they did not include traditional numbers as shows of yore did. But many of the shows of this era, such as Company and Godspell, did not follow the traditional format and ensembles were minimal – if there at all, they were not featured prominently. This left a demographic of previously notorious Broadway performers in limbo and fighting for their place on cast lists: the chorus dancer.
This was the dilemma that chorus dancers Michon Peacock and Tony Stevens found themselves in. Unable to find work as the hoofers they were, they decided to talk to their friend, choreographer Michael Bennett, about starting a dance troupe for displaced dancers such as themselves. In a happy coincidence, Bennett had had a similar idea, except instead of creating a troupe, he had been thinking about creating a show.
It has been argued that what happened next changed the course of Broadway history. When Bennett hosted a small get together with some of his, Peacock, and Stevens’s friends, the dancers started talking about their journeys and struggles. It’s a process that would be repeated forty years later (Albeit intentionally this time) for a certain 9/11 musical which will be covered at least twice in a few years. Bennett realized that with the stories of these dancers, he could create a dance musical that would speak to everyone, both inside and outside of the dance world.
The plot he created was simple; seventeen dancers make it to the last round of an audition where ultimately eight will be chosen. Throughout the course of the audition, the dancers reveal their stories – the good, the bad, and the painful.
With the outline solidified, Bennett took it to his friend Joseph Papp. Papp also loved the idea and gave Bennett unlimited time to create the piece at the Public. So with his newly minted team (Bob Avian to co-choreograph, Edward Kleban to write the lyrics, James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante to assist with the book, and Oscar Winner Marvin Hamlisch to write the music), Bennett got to work.
A Chorus Line officially opened at the Public on April 15, 1975. The response was immediate. Clive Barnes fell in love with it instantly which was no small feat for the stiff upper lipped Brit. He called it an instant classic and admitted to being eager for the soundtrack. When it officially opened on Broadway at the Shubert on October 19th 1975, Tony voters agreed. It was nominated for a whopping twelve Tonys, winning nine. It launched the career of several performers who still working today, including:
- Donna McKechnie. As of 2019, she was still performing and even had a solo cabaret show at 54 Below. She won Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Cassie in A Chorus Line.
- Kelly Bishop. I talked about her in the entry for Golden Rainbow. She also took home a Tony for A Chorus Line, netting herself Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She made her mark on the silver screen as Emily Gilmore in The Gilmore Girls.
- Robert LuPone. The brother of Broadway goliath Patti LuPone. He died last year but was working right up until his death.
- Priscilla Lopez. In recent years she has made many TV appearances. She appeared on Broadway last season in The Skin of Our Teeth.
- Wayne Cilento. He’s working mostly as a choreographer mostly, most notably for Wicked.
A Chorus Line ended up running for fifteen years, smashing Grease’s record for longest running Broadway show. When it closed on April 28th 1990, it had run for 6,137 performances. There is a plaque at the entrance to the Newman Theater at the Public commemorating the historic origins of this piece. Apparently there is also one at the Shubert Theater, though I have never seen it.
A Chorus Line was also one of the first shows that my dad introduced me to. I grew up listening to What I Did For Love and One on repeat. When he saw the show in January of 1977, Lopez, Bishop, LuPone, and a majority of the other original cast had already departed. On top of that, there are understudy notices in his program, one of them being for Donna McKechnie. When I found this as a pre-teen, my heart sank. The Music and the Mirror always spoke to me and there was a part of my young soul that wanted to believe that my dad had seen McKechnie perform it.
A Chorus Line was revived in 2006, sixteen years after the original fifteen year run closed. I think it speaks to it’s universality that it was brought back after a time period that rivaled how long it ran originally. But few shows require the vulnerability and the dance skills that A Chorus Line does, making it truly a gem in the Broadway sphere.
CAST: REPLACEMENT
CONFIRMED UNDERSTUDIES:
Pamela Sousa for Donna McKechnie
Patti D’Beck for Gillian Scalici
ROY: Scott Allen
JUDY: Sandahl Bergman
TOM: Tim Cassidy
MARK: Paul Charles
MIKE: Wayne Cilento
BARBARA: Patti D’Beck
MAGGIE: Donna Drake
KRISTINE: Deborah Geffner
LARRY: Adam Grammis
ZACH: Eivind Harum
RICHIE: Winston DeWitt Hemsley
DIANA: Loida Iglesias
VAL: Karen Jablons
CONNIE: Lauren Kayahara
BUTCH: Edward Love
CASSIE: Donna McKechnie
Al: John Mineo
PAUL: George Pesaturo
GREG: Justin Ross
BEBE: Gillian Scalici
LOIS: Pamela Sousa
TRICIA: Jo Speros
DON: David Thome
BOBBY: Thomas J. Walsh
FRANK: Michael Serrecchia
VICKI: Crissy Wilzak
SHELIA: KathrynAnn Wright
UNDERSTUDIES: Michael Serrecchia (Larry, Greg, Bobby); Crissy Witzak (Val, Judy, Kristine); Clive Clark (Zach); Patti D’Beck (Diana, Bebe, Tricia, Vicki); Jo Speros (Maggie, Connie); Deborah Geffner (Shelia); Scott Allen (Al), Edward Love (Richie); Tim Cassidy (Don, Mark, Bobby)); Rene Clemente (Paul); and Pamela Sousa (Cassie).
Barnes. Clive. “A Chorus Line.” New York Times, October 20, 1975. https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/20/archives/a-chorus-line-a-musical-to-sing-about-for-years.html
“Behind the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line” Signature Theatre (Blog). October 17th, 2019. https://www.sigtheatre.org/about/news-and-blogs/2019/october/behind-the-line-the-creation-of-a-chorus-line#:~:text=The%20idea%20behind%20A%20Chorus,to%20be%20out%20of%20work.
Berkvist, Robert. “How ‘A Chorus Line’ Was Born”. New York Times, June 15, 1975. https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/15/archives/how-a-chorus-line-was-born-how-a-chorus-line-was-born.html
Bordman, Gerald. “American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle.” New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1978.
Donna McKechnie. www.donnamckechnie.com. Accessed March 2023.
Internet Broadway Database. “Carole Bishop” www.ibdb.com Accessed March 2023.
Internet Broadway Database. “Donna McKechnie” www.ibdb.com. Accessed March 2023.
Internet Broadway Database. “Priscilla Lopez”. www.ibdb.com Accessed March 2023.
Internet Broadway Database. “Robert LuPone.” www.ibdb.com Accessed March 2023.
Internet Movie Database. “Marvin Hamlisch.” www.imdb.com Accessed March 2023.
Internet Movie Database. “Robert Lupone”. www.imdb.com. Accessed March 2023.
Internet Off-Broadway Database. “A Chorus Line.” http://www.iobdb.com/production/1107. Accessed March 2023.
The Public . www.publictheater.org. Accessed March 2023.
