Chorus Line: Fulton Theatre's "re-envisioned" with Jessica Lee Goldyn in PA- Page 2

[Idiot]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 6:18pm

I would like to see this, misgivings and all, because I haven't seen a good ACL since the original at the Shubert in the seventies.

[Trish2]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 7:24pm

How did they even get Goldyn for this ? It looks like a community theatre production ! None of those bodies look they've had any training.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 7:30pm

Their bodies, dancing wise look fine to me--given the choreography clip anyway, but I assume they used her as a draw ("She did Chorus Line on Broadway!") and maybe much of the cast hiring budget....

[Kad]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 7:33pm

I'm all for re-imagining a classic.

But judging only by those terrible costumes, they don't seem to really know what the show's explicitly about.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 7:35pm

" Have at it kids, but dont tell Bob Avian or Baayork Lee. IT'S THEIRS!"

"I had always assumed they had to sanction all rights to pro productions--but this seems a (fairly) major one, so maybe they had permission? "

The sole rights to ACL belong to John Breglio, Bennett's former lawyer. As hard as it is for me to believe, he must have given this production permission (then again, he allowed that debacle that was Mario Lopez that killed off the Broadway run). I guess he figures he's gotten all the big money he's going to get from ACL for the next few years, so he may as well get pocket change from it? Honestly, it's a puzzlement to me.

Jessica Goldyn is so wrong for the role of Cassie, and while I don't think that the revival should have been the museum piece it was, this production seems all kinds of wrong. ACL is not Zach's story, and the idea of The Music and the Mirror as a duet?

Just wrong. Wronger than Mario Lopez - and that was all kinds of wrong.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 7:48pm

All I really needed was the music ... and the mirror ... and YOU, Zach.

Jesus.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 7:58pm

"Now come on stage and duet with me to show me.... how... I... can... DAAAANCE..."

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 10:22pm

I wonder if a community theater or a college production of ACL wanted Goldyn(& paid her) if she'd still do the show as Cassie?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 10:24pm

I think people are being too hard on her. It's not like she's aged out of the role.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 10:28pm

she hasn't aged into the role is what's the problem. Saw her play Cassie at the closing performance on Broadway and thought she completely misunderstood the part. Then I saw her in the role at Papermill last October and she was beyond terrible. She completely doesn't understand the role and needs to move on from the show.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 10:31pm

Fair enough. Maybe she's better in the black leotard.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 12:09am

"Saw her play Cassie at the closing performance on Broadway and thought she completely misunderstood the part. Then I saw her in the role at Papermill last October and she was beyond terrible. She completely doesn't understand the role and needs to move on from the show."

Absolutely agree. She was 22 when she finished out the final week of ACL as Cassie. Looked and acted it. There was none of Cassie's weariness or desperation.

She was highly acclaimed as Val, the role she originated in the revival, which was her Broadway debut. She is a talented dancer and a decent singer, and I don't understand why she hasn't been more successful.

I often wonder if she shouldn't have literally spent some time in the chorus after ACL closed. Since then, she's only done a handful of regional projects, 2 of them being Cassie in the ACL versions that ACL2006 refers to.

She was, incidentally, also in the group of A Chorus Line dancers at the end of Marvin Hamlisch's Lincoln Center memorial. I agree, she really needs to move on from ACL for awhile.

Updated On: 3/29/13 at 12:09 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 6:25am

I thought her dancing as Cassie on Broadway was terrific (judging from that YouTube clip), but it showed only her dancing the Bennett choreography. (No acting, and just a tiny snip of singing.)

I get why people would want to cast her if she were doing those original steps ... but if you're re-staging the whole thing, why would she be your "go to" gal for the role?

Updated On: 3/29/13 at 06:25 AM

[goldenboy]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 8:54pm

I'm confused. i though all productions were required to use the original staging.
Anyone know the real deal on this?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 9:00pm

I'm curious too--but I had heard the same about WSS and some high profile productions have proven that wrong (albeit not many) so maybe they got permission or there's some way around it?

Interestingly the same theatre is apparently doing Dreamgirls next (which the Bennett estate doesn't seem to care about staging wise.)

[goldenboy]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 9:13pm

A friend of mine, Kimberly Dawn Smith who was a replacement for the original cast told me that there are only about 12 people allowed to stage it with the original staging==among them Bayork Lee, Bob Avian, Kimberly Dawn and a few others..
So what is the deal on this?

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 9:19pm

I'm pretty sure with Fiddler, Chorus Line, WSS (and perhaps even the King and I), you are required to purchase the rights to the choreography when you license those shows. It's not optional (this is so Jerome Robbins and Michael Bennett get paid for their integral contributions). I don't think you are required to use the choreography, but you have to license it regardless if you want to do the show.

For any major productions (Broadway or tour), you may have to get approval from the estates not to use it. Someone else here can probably verify that.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 9:25pm

Golden Boy that is something of a fallacy. Certainly, on an amateur and or semi-professional level, there isn't that kind of stipulation placed on re-creation of original choregoraphy. I think a lot of groups aim to recreate original choreography for their own pedigree in saying they are doing so, but the only show I know of in which the rental materials actually include a detailed bible of all the original staging is FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. There are no such required materials for recreating the original choreography/staging in the standard rental materials for WSS or A CHORUS LINE or any other Jerome Robbins work.

Now, when you are talking about a high level revival or major tour or a first class LORT staging then yes, it is possible that there might be a specific contractual obligation to recreate the original staging and to engage a 'designated' person to do so, but even then -- I think strict enforcement of that is probably somewhat nefarious.



Updated On: 3/29/13 at 09:25 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 9:34pm

MB, I believe there is choreography notation optioned (but maybe not forced) with WSS, judging from my own (distant) high school memories. Otherwise, you're spot on.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 9:38pm

Eric --

Yes with WSS, you can rent optionally the notation for the original choreography but it is not a contractual obligation in licensing the show.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 9:44pm

And to put it all in a little bit of perspective, Fulton Opera House isn't the kind of major regional theatre that there would likely be an enforcement of using the Bennett choreography.

I too kind of find it refreshing to see a production that doesn't use the Bennett staging, but its not that unprecedented.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 9:46pm

The rules may have changed, but when I was in A Chorus Line, the choreography license was mandatory. It came with the rights. We were not obligated to use it, and we didn't in some cases. We were among the very first non-tour Equity companies to do the show.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 9:51pm

Best--just curious, who did you play?

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 9:54pm

Oh, please. I was only cast because I could sing well, so I was cut in the opening number (with a couple of lines of dialogue). I can't even remember my "name." I did a lot of dance shows back then because I could sing and move (passably) well.

It was right after we did Evita. Marin Mazzie was in both shows. Becky Ann Baker, too.

For what it's worth Michael Bennett was still alive, and the show was still running on Broadway when we did it. Perhaps the licensing rules changed after he died and after the show closed.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 10:56pm

*adds notes to file* I was just curious--that still is extremely cool.