A Chorus Line

 

Theater in the round may not be the ideal way to present Michael Bennett’s 9 time Tony award winning, “A Chorus Line,” now at the Music Circus, under the direction of Stafford Arima.

That is not to say that this production was not spectacular.  The opening number alone will leave the most robust in the audience panting from the sheer athleticism of a stage full of dancers leaping, twisting turning and dancing their hearts out.

For those now old enough to see the show (it opened in 1975, so it is quite likely that it is now playing to a whole new generation, unfamiliar with it), this is a two hour audition for eight roles in a show that is being cast by director Zach (Eric Sciotto) a mostly disembodied voice giving the dancers directions.  Zach appears on stage from time to time, but his part is mostly unseen.

Throughout the audition each of the finalists (some in the opening number dancers are eliminated after that number) tells his or her story, sings and/or dances and “really hopes I get this job.”

While the singers and dancers are for the most part outstanding, one problem with doing this in the round with a sound system where every voice comes from center stage, whether the performer is on stage or in the aisles of the Wells Fargo Pavillion is you are often busy trying to find out who is speaking and where the speaker actually is standing, and so a lot of the intimacy of a proscenium stage is lost.  By the end of the show, there are few actors with whom you have an invested relationship.

The circular stage is also difficult for the more intimate scenes when, of necessity, half of the audience watches the action from the back.  The character of Paul (Xavier Cano) may be one of the more emotional of the cast and the last time I saw this show he brought me to tears, but since I witnessed his entire interaction with Zach from behind him, it didn’t have the same impact. Cano gave it his all and was one of the few for whom I felt a twinge later in the show, but I didn’t get a chance to love him the way I wanted to.

At the end of the show, when Diana (Selina Michelle Verastigui) sings “What I did for Love” you should feel in your gut what all dedicated, talented performers really go through for their art, because you have watched it all throughout the show, but again, with not much invested in their lives it becomes an emotional song, which Verastigui puts all of her heart and soul into, but it doesn’t have the impact it might have had if we knew the performers better.

The biggest disappointment, however is the finale.  A Chorus Line is known for the crisp choreography of dancers standing in front of a mirror wall, their numbers growing, as the rest of the cast joins them for the iconic “One”

It is impossible to use a mirror on the Music Circus stage and while the dancing is crisp and impeccable and the circle dancing, escalating in speed breathtaking, the impact just can’t be the same as it is on a proscenium stage.  Adding lots of lighting helps, but I missed that grand finale.  This was just a good finale.

However, with those caveats of a cranky old critic (I’m sure most of the enthusiastic audience never gave them a thought), the performances were outstanding.  Cassie (Kate Levering, a veteran of more than 15 Music Circus shows), a one time rising “star” now unable to get a job and wanting to start over again in the chorus was desperate and poignant, trying to get past her former relationship with Zach and just get a job. 

Jennifer Foote is Sheila, an aging chorine with a chip on her shoulder hiding the sadness of her childhood.  She joins Juliane Godfrey (Bebe), Chelsea Morgan Stock (Maggie) in singing the poignant “At the Ballet,” which describes how dancing saved them.

Allison Blair McDowell mops up the stage as Val, whose looks prevented her from getting jobs until she found a unique way to solve the problem.  Her song is always an audience favorite.

Nick Varricchio makes an impression as Mike, telling about his start in dancing, by literally stepping into his sister’s shoes.

Newlyweds Kristine (Katie Huff) and Al (Adam Fleming) are funny, trying to explain Judy’s problem with vocal pitch.

This production is definitely an audience pleaser, and, my own personal disappointments aside, should be a big hit for Music Circus.

A Chorus Line

There is one singular sensation out at the DMTC Performing Arts Center, as the Davis Musical Theater Company presents its latest production of “A Chorus Line,” directed by John Ewing, with choreography by Pamela Lourentzos.

Before the show started, co-producer Steve Isaacson was delighted to announce that as a result of a successful internet fund-raising campaign DMTC was able to afford more realistic mirrors on the stage, and what a difference it made!  When those mirrors rotated around to face the audience, there was a literal gasp at how wonderful it looked.

For those unfamiliar with this show, it is not your run of the mill plot show.  There is no boy-meets-girl story, and while the finale is triumphant for some, not for all.  There is also no “star” of the show.  It is a show which depends on a very strong ensemble, which is precisely what director Ewing has assembled for this production.

The show takes place in one day, at a cattle call for dancers for an upcoming unnamed Broadway show.  Twenty three dancers show up for an audition for eight roles, and they go through not only a 2 hour grueling dance audition, but also must plumb the depths of their psyches to convince director Zach (Dean Shellenberger) that they would work well in this show.  Most will be eliminated.

When Diana (Rachelle Jones) sings the show’s signature song, “What I Did for Love,” near the end, the audience has a very good idea of what exactly singers, dancers, and actors do for love in order to perform.  Jones’ rendition of this song is very moving.

The opening number, “I Hope I Get It” blends brash optimism, fear, and insecurity, as each dancer expresses his or her hopes for finally landing a job.

Part of the audition process involves answering some very pointed questions about the dancers’ past lives, and their responses take us through the songs of this Marvin Hamlish-Edward Kleban musical. 

Mike (Trey Quinn) tells of being dragged to his sisters dance classes as a young boy, falling in love with what the students were doing, and, on a day when his sister couldn’t get to class, stealing her shoes and running to take her place. And there he stayed “for the rest of his life.”

Bebe and Maggie (Rebecca Crebbin-Coates and Cooper Johnson) sing the lyrical “at the ballet,” remembering their days dancing ballet and how it saved them from unhappy home lives.

The cute, but not very talented Kristine (Jessica Arena) and her new husband Al (Scott Scholes) try to explain Kristine’s problems with staying on tune.  (It is worth noting that the role of Al in the 1985 movie was played by the late Tony Fields, a Davis High graduate)

Caitland Martin plays the over exuberant, sensual Val whose career has been plagued not being a beauty, no matter how talented she may be (“Dance: Ten, Looks: Three”)

Cassie (Christina Castro) is Zach’s former mistress, who left the chorus line to have a career as a solo performer.  With the lack of success, she is back trying to get into the chorus.  Zach is particularly harsh with her and Castro emotes effectively in her song “The Music and the Mirror,” as she tries to explain that this is all she has now.

Sheila (Jori Gonzales) has a tough exterior which hides her own insecurities.  When Zach insists she let her hair down (literally), she begins to open up.

Devon Hayakawa plays Connie, a role played in the movie by Davis’ Jan Gan Boyd.  Hayakawa is the youngest in the cast, but you’d never know it.  She is easily on a professional level with the rest of the cast.

But if the evening went to one performer in particular it was to Peter Giovanni, playing Paul, a painfully shy man hiding a secret he dares not to reveal to the cast at large.  Giovanni gives such a poignant performance that it moves the audience to tears.

In truth, it is Paul’s secret (he’s gay) which dates this musical.  In this day and age, nobody would care, and I suspect Paul would not be quite so pitiful, but in 1975, when the play opened on Broadway, we were still three years before Harvey Milk was elected to public office in San Francisco, and several years before anybody ever heard of AIDS.  “Gay Pride” was unheard of.

Given that, it may be surprising that “A Chorus Line” won nine Tony Awards that year and went on to be the longest running musical in Broadway History (15 years), until it was dethroned by “Cats.”

But the show’s appeal cannot be denied.  And when the cast assembles on stage, dressed in gold and white and standing in front of those gorgeous mirrors, it takes your breath away.  Rockette precise they’re not, but oh so all but. 

DMTC knocks it out of the ballpark with this production.!

A Chorus Line

The original production of “A Chorus Line” opened at the Public Theater’s Newman Theater on May 21, 1975, directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett with music by Marvin Hamlish, book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante.

The show transferred to Broadway’s Shubert Theater later that year. It won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, nine Tony awards, including best musical, score and book, and the New York Drama critics Circle Award. It ran for nearly 15 years, closing on April 28, 1990 after 6,137 performances and became the longest running American musical in Broadway history (a title eventually claimed by “Cats,” “Les Miserables” and “Phantom of the Opera”).

There have been productions mounted in Puerto Rico, England, France, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Austria, Singapore, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, South Africa, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

When the show was made into a movie in 1985 the cast included Davis’ own Tony Fields and Jan Gan Boyd in minor roles.

In its day it was cutting edge. We hadn’t yet seen “So You Think You Can Dance” or experienced the angst of young performers working their tails off and giving their all trying to achieve stardom on “American Idol.” Confessions of what it’s like to grow up gay, enduring the taunts of fellow students were new and perhaps shocking revelations to some. “A Chorus Line” richly deserved all of the accolades that it received.

In 2006, the musical was revived by Baayork Lee (who originated the role of Connie Wong) and Michael Bennett’s co-choreographer, Bob Avian and is presented as a 2 hr 10 minute one-act show.

Patrons are warned to be in their seats by 8 p.m. sharp because no one will be admitted during the first 5-10 minutes of the show. This is where we get our first glimpse of the large group of dancers who will eventually be whittled down to only eight through an intensive audition process that will ultimately include not only dance ability, but very personal in-depth interviews by the director Zach (Derek Hanson).

The initial number has a relentlessness to it as the dancers try to learn a complicated dance step and the first cut, of roughly half the group is made. It’s a scene designed to make non-performers wonder why people put themselves through such pain and suffering, but the end of the number, with all the semi-finalists lined up behind their 8x10 glossy headshots is a stunning tableau.

After Zach informs the dancers that he wants to know more about them, they begin with great reluctance to talk, revealing portions of their life stories. In order to get this job, they must put themselves on the line.

Mike (Andy Mills) recalls attending ballet classes with his sister as a pre-schooler and discovering a love of the dance.

In “Sing” Kristine (Hilary Michael Thompson) confesses to being tone-deaf.

“Nothing” tells of Diana’s (Kristin Tucker in this performance) frustration with her first acting class, while Val (Kristen Martin) explains how she came to reshape herself into a more appealing commodity, through the use of plastic surgery in “Dance 10, Looks 3.”

Nicky Venditti as Paul gives an emotional description of the pain of growing up gay and the rejection of his parents. His monologue earned him special audience applause.

Sacramento home town girl, Rebecca Riker, has the plum role of Cassie, former lover of Zach, whose aspirations are merely to be part of a chorus and whose relationship fell apart over her lack of desire to be a star. (“Well, it would be nice to be a star...but I’m not; I’m a dancer.”)

Zach’s question to the group “What would you do if you couldn’t dance?” gives the lead-in to one of the show’s most beautiful numbers, “What I Did for Love” sung by Diana (Selina Verastigui), and then the entire company.

The show ends with the stunning “One,” with all the chorus members resplendant in their gold costumes, moving together as one body.

All the familiar elements are there in this production yet somehow, except for a few outstanding moments, it seems a bit dated and maybe a bit tired. It was kind of “Dance 10, Relevance 3.”

A Chorus Line

Rockettes, eat yer heart out!

The sight of the Varsity stage filled with a kick line of gold-lamé clad men and women is not one anyone will soon forget.

The Davis Musical Theatre Company opened its production of "A Chorus Line," directed by Michael Miiller [sic] (who also plays the role of Director Zach) with choreography by Ron Cisneros on Friday night. It is "one singular sensation."

Not your stereotypical musical, "A Chorus Line" (book by James Kirwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Edward Kleban) not only won nine Tony Awards, it also won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. It was the first musical in years to win that particular award. When it closed, in April of 1990, after 15 years, it was the longest running Broadway show in history (a title eventually taken over by "Cats").

This play about dancers takes the audience through an audition process of a cattle call of a group hoping to land one of the 8 chorus slots in a Broadway show. It offers a glimpse into the individual lives of the singers/dancers who are hoping to make the final cut. Together, the grouop sings and dances, telling of their hopes and fears about whether or not they will get the job, in the opening number, "I Hope I Get It." Then, after the initial cuts have been made, each of the remaining group, in turn tells a little about themselves, under casting director Zach's probing questions, as he make his final selection. He takes no prisoners and his questions occasionally border on cruel

Receiving much of the bite of Zach's tongue is Cassie (Heather Benner), once his love interest. In "The Music and the Mirror," Cassie talks of the failure of her solo career. Roles have stop coming and she finds difficulty getting cast. She merely wants to return to her roots as a member of the chorus.

We get to know the others in the group from which the final selection will be made--Bobby (Marc Valdez), who wants to be a movie star; Mike (Colby Salmon), who tagged along after his sister to dance class and came to realize that "I can do that"; and Al and Kristine (Isaac Dailey and the delightfully ditzy Courtney Bufkin), now married and clutching each other for support. (The role of Al was played in the 1985 movie by Davis' own Tony Fields)

Maggie (Melody Davi) and Bebe (Patricia Glass), have escaped unhappy home lives by looking for solace in the theatre.

The ascerbic Sheila (a strong performance by Pamela Lourentzos) is a theatre veteran with a tough, brittle exterior hiding her own insecurities.

Likewise, Paul (Matt Dunn) has a secret he's ashamed to share. Dunn's Paul is almost painful to watch, so skillfully is the character drawn. (Paul's shameful little secret is one which dates the 1975 script. One suspects it would not be quite so shameful in 2003.)

An unlikely looking dancer is barrel-chested Richie (Marcus Mitchell) who lets us know from the first step that there is a pro at work (Mitchell has danced professionally in Finland and with the Sacramento Theatre Company)

Val (DMTC veteran Wendy Young) worried all through high school about her figure and finally found a way to turn heads. She's got it and isn't too shy to flaunt it. Her delightful "Dance 10, Looks 3" is a salute to plastic surgery.

Diana (Dena Lozano) gets to sing one of Hamlisch's prettiest (and most recognizable) tunes, "What I Did For Love" and she sings it flawlessly.

DMTC has pulled out all the stops, with a full pit band which, surprisingly, does not overwhelm the singers. Steve Isaacson has done a good job of recreating the traditional mirrored panel rotating set, with nice lighting for augmentation.

The production is not perfect, with a bit of slowness in the pacing of Act 1, a bit of polishing needed for the dazzling finale (there was a bit of confusion with a couple of the dancers about which way to turn, something I suspect will be quickly corrected), but overall, this is one of the best shows I have seen at DMTC.