A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line
ChiTheaterFan
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/15
#1A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/13/15 at 11:42pm
Hi everyone. I'm sure in light of the vitriol I've seen on this board, some will see this as a stupid question, but I don't really care; I'm just trying to learn something. Can someone please explain to me the significance of A Chorus Line in its day? I saw the 2006 revival but didn't appreciate at the time that it was apparently groundbreaking when it first appeared, and while I enjoyed it, I look back and can't quite understand what would've been groundbreaking about this show. I've seen a lot of comparisons drawn between this and Hamilton in terms of significant pieces of theater to come out of the Public, but I wasn't alive in 1975, so it's kind of tough for me to look back without hindsight as to everything that between now and then and know why the show was a big deal. Any history lessons from those who experienced this at the time would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Updated On: 7/13/15 at 11:42 PM
#2A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/14/15 at 12:13am
Go to this old thread on the OT Board.
And read it! Read it! Read it !
Ranger Tom
Leading Actor Joined: 7/6/14
#3A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/14/15 at 1:00am
It meant something. I was in California at the time doing summer rep theater. We were 3000 miles away, hearing about this show...about us. It drove us crazy that we couldn't get more information. We were college kids, doing five shows in rep, but so much of our talk was about this show they were working on in NYC. No, we weren't going to end up on Broadway (well, all but one of us wasn't going to end up on Broadway) but it told the story of what our dream was. That's the feeling I had, and the feeling I still have each time I see it. That's fairly significant, right?
#4A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/14/15 at 8:58am
A CHORUS LINE was groundbreaking for various reasons. One that comes to mind is that it was conceived out of long interview sessions Michael Bennett and his creative team conducted with some of their theater/dance colleagues. many who would go on to be in the show.
It was also a musical that was also molded in a series of workshops that at the time was not common practice.
It was an ensemble piece, no one in the cast was an above the title Broadway star when the show premiered and in spite of that it was one of the must see shows of it's time.
On the surface A CHORUS LINE is seen as a show business musical about dancers and their struggles to make it on Broadway but on a deeper level it's really a microcosm of life, and that is why it resonated with so many people.
It also possessed one of the best scores written for any musical and Michael Bennett's choreography was top notch and his staging was truly groundbreaking - - - creating atmosphere, time and space within a black box stage that consisted of a line downstage, inventive lighting and use of mirrors.
I'm sure there are others on this board that will be more than happy to give you more information in much greater detail about what made this musical a phenomenon.
Updated On: 7/14/15 at 08:58 AM
ChiTheaterFan
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/15
#5A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/14/15 at 9:29am
Thanks for all the information everyone. I find it interesting to try to look back in time and see what made shows so significant in their day.
#6A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/14/15 at 9:36am
You may also be interested in the following books:
On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line by Robert Viagas, Baayork Lee and Thommie Walsh
One Singular Sensation: The Michael Bennett Story by Kevin Kelley
What They Did For Love: The Untold Story Behind The Making of A Chorus Line by Denny Martin Flinn
A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett by Ken Mandelbaum
All but On The Line are out of print but you can try amazon.com Marketplace, ebay or your local library to try and obtain a copy.
A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett is a personal favorite.
Updated On: 7/14/15 at 09:36 AM
ChiTheaterFan
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/15
#9A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/14/15 at 9:50am
If you're a Comcast subscriber, the documentary "Every Little Step" is free on demand. I find it compelling. It's a documentary about the casting of the revival, but it also contains footage and commentary from the original cast.
The very first Broadway show I ever saw was the original cast of A Chorus Line, in the fall of 1975. Kelly Bishop's performance is still one of the greatest I've ever seen.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#10A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/14/15 at 10:26am
I think something else that makes it interesting is that most of the show is delivered straight out to the audience. The creators used the device of having the director at the back of the theater, and for most of the show, just a disembodied voice, which forced the actors on stage to look straight out into the theater, breaking the fourth wall.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
AEA AGMA SM
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/13/09
#11A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/14/15 at 11:48am
"If you're a Comcast subscriber, the documentary "Every Little Step" is free on demand. I find it compelling. It's a documentary about the casting of the revival, but it also contains footage and commentary from the original cast.
The very first Broadway show I ever saw was the original cast of A Chorus Line, in the fall of 1975. Kelly Bishop's performance is still one of the greatest I've ever seen."
Every Little Step is a far superior film version of A Chorus Line than the actual movie that was filmed in the 80s (not that it takes much to be superior to that). All the heartbreak and longing and raw emotion that was missing from the film is there in that documentary.
#12A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/14/15 at 12:44pm
"I think something else that makes it interesting is that most of the show is delivered straight out to the audience. The creators used the device of having the director at the back of the theater, and for most of the show, just a disembodied voice, which forced the actors on stage to look straight out into the theater, breaking the fourth wall."
Musicals have been doing that since THE BLACK CROOK, Goth. If there was a difference in A CHORUS LINE it was that they didn't pretend to be talking to each other.
***
To the OP, I think ACL was important because it was so brilliantly staged and performed, but also because it dealt seriously with subjects that hadn't been well-covered by Broadway musicals before. The treatment of the homosexual, Paul, is (a) compassionate if sort of condescending to us now and (b) unusual because he wasn't the only gay character in the show. He was also not just gay, but has worked as a seedy drag queen, much to the shame of his parents.
And ACL acknowledged that not everybody can realize his/her dreams all the time. Only a minority of the dancers make the cut and we know from the beginning that most will be disappointed. ACL wasn't the first musical to have unhappy endings, but it may have been the first to have so many. As such it celebrated American aspirations while acknowledging limitations in a decade in which a President of the U.S. resigned, we lost our first war in Vietnam and Americans in general were cutting back because of oil embargoes and inflation.
There is no central love story or supporting, comic love story, both standard in the American musical since OKLAHOMA! There are no stock characters that one recognized from every other musical of the R&H period. And by using the dialogue and problems of real people, it had a ring of authenticity that contrasted sharply with the book librettos based in vaudeville routines that had dominated Broadway for most of the century. I wouldn't call it "gritty", but at the time it seemed a lot more "real" than something like APPLAUSE.
Yet it's overall tone was determined and even inspiring. "What I Did for Love" may be cheesy, but it also reflected the love and dedication of artists for their craft. The characters aren't trying to be stars (as the chorines of Busby Berkeley had been in the 1930s), they were just trying to be serious dancers. It was easy to root for that.
#13A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/14/15 at 1:21pm
And ACL acknowledged that not everybody can realize his/her dreams all the time. Only a minority of the dancers make the cut and we know from the beginning that most will be disappointed.
That's exactly what I feel makes the show important as well. It's the antithesis of 42nd Street, giving the audience a peek behind the curtain (so to speak) and not only introduces the audience to the stress and anxiety associated with the career choice, but also explains why they choose to do it at all. And it managed to create all the thrill of a spectacle musical with almost no sets whatsoever (just the mirrors). There are no gimmicks or visual magic effects. It was all accomplished through the music, lyrics, lighting, choreography, direction and the cast themselves. A small show that, by the end, feels ENORMOUS. I'm so glad I got to see the final US tour of the original production and the revival that recreated the original. I honestly don't think I would want to see any other production of the show.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#14A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/15/15 at 9:50am
APPLAUSE and 42nd STREET are still essentially Cinderella stories set in a fairy-tale show-biz milieu. In A CHORUS LINE, characters talk about things like Mom finding a strange woman's earrings in Dad's car and pretending not to care, about how the cast of a show stands in for a cold and unloving family, about how teachers can be especially cruel in the arts because the class work is so personal, etc.
No, it isn't PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK, but it's pretty down-to-earth for a Broadway musical.
ChiTheaterFan
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/15
#15A Chorus Line
Posted: 7/15/15 at 11:32pm
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful and informative responses. I just love hearing what people loved about these shows that were so transformative for them.
