Chorus Line: Fulton Theatre's "re-envisioned" with Jessica Lee Goldyn in PA- Page 3

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 11:13pm

you have a file?

Posted: 3/30/13 at 12:11am

Did anyone else think she came off -- Uh--. Not so great in the video?

A bit of a 'see you next Tuesday'?

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/30/13 at 12:25am

^yes.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 3/30/13 at 12:52am

Sounds to me like the director was a big fan of the 1985 film version.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/30/13 at 3:20am

...as I said...

And yes I have many files Carlos :P

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/3/13 at 11:19pm

I've heard more about this production from a friend--as well as found a review. It's all the more--bizarre and awful sounding, at least in-as-much as it seems like the goal was to be different for the sake of being different.

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/826978_-A-Chorus-Line--is-solid--but-lacks-some-grit--power.html

Apparently when the critic says the show is "far more theatrical" (a term I think that is mis-used--what's more theatrical than the original? It sounds more like literal, or stylized) this includes that the ballet flashback has the other dancers in Swan Lake tutus...

Still the critic pretty much thinks it doesn't really work:

"I'm not sure this theatricality works. The point of "Chorus Line" is that we stay in that dingy room with those dancers fighting for a job in the show, feeling the pressure. It is up to the songs and the performers to take us someplace, not the set.

The biggest change Robin brings to the show is putting director Zach on the stage.

In the original show, he is simply a voice, a cold voice from somewhere out in the dark, playing God.

The dancers are intimidated by him, especially when he asks them to start opening up about themselves.

But in the Fulton show, he is responding to them, laughing, putting his arm around a dancer who has revealed painful parts of his life. He even cries at one point when dealing with his old girlfriend, Cassie (Jessica Lee Goldyn), who is trying to work her way back into the chorus after a stint in Hollywood."

Ugh

My friend said that originally in this production:

"What's not mentioned in the review is that the director told the actor playing Zach to choose at each performance whoever he felt should get picked that night. Yes. So, for example, Cassie wasn't always chosen. In fact, I don't know if she was ever chosen. I do know from a friend who saw that production that she wasn't chosen the night he saw it.

Obviously, this whole idea causes a problem with the finale since they didn't know in advance who would be able to get into the finale costumes in time. This was solved by having someone as the "star" come out and dance the first 16 or so bars as a solo. "

He said that they got a call from the Bennett estate and had to make some changes, but not sure which exactly were made.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/3/13 at 11:24pm

Weird. That thing about the "star" comes from the original conception of the number. Actually, so does having someone else dance with Cassie in Music and the Mirror (though it was just boys from the line, not Zach) as well as the shifting of who got chosen each night. It's like the director read "What They Did For Love" and decided to reinstate all the ideas that were discarded in 1975.

This sounds dreadful. God, I wish I could have seen it.

Updated On: 4/3/13 at 11:24 PM

[Wildcard]

Posted: 4/3/13 at 11:26pm

Yikes. This sounds terrible.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/3/13 at 11:32pm

WOW!! Looks like they completely lost the meaning of what A Chorus Line is in this production. What a waste. I wonder if someone from the Bennett estate saw the show and, if possible, fined the theater for this.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/3/13 at 11:41pm

Ouch.

Well, chops for trying, but still... ouch.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/3/13 at 11:42pm

To clarrify, the change they did implement from the Bennett Estate was dropping the "who will be chosen" and having to stick to the script ending. That's a good point Phyllis--I knew that Bennett had tried out the variant ending, but not the rest...

...and I kinda wish I had/could see it too (mainly because it seems so awful.)

Posted: 4/3/13 at 11:55pm

I'm not positive but I think that whole a different person gets cast every night is a bit of a "chorus line" urban legend. The order of the bows is set, as is the intricate finale choreography. I believe it's Val, Diana Judy and Cassie . And mike, Ritchie , mark and bobby. The others are the first to bow as they have the longest to change . I believe.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 12:01am

I guess you didn't really read this thread?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 12:09am

>> "I think that whole a different person gets cast every night is a bit of a "chorus line" urban legend"

Not entirely. IIRC, this was used in the very first run, before it hit Broadway. Remember, they added the big splashy finale when it moved uptown. At the Public, Zach made his choices, and that's it. Show's over. Bennett did that to get a more realistic sense of surprise from the performers.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 12:13am

They should have called this "A Chorus Line: The Director's Cut."

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 12:19am

The One finale was added at the Public, but yes who got chosen at the end varied, or at the very least, Cassie wasn't always chosen. There's a surviving audio recording where Kristine is chosen one night instead of Cassie.
Updated On: 4/4/13 at 12:19 AM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 12:29am

But Bennett "foze" the production with the ending we all know, at the Public, right? Or was that not until later? I thought the different ending thing was one of the first things to go partly after various people convinced Bennett to throw the audience a bone and that they would all want Cassie to make it in.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 12:32am

Very well could have, Eric. After all, it was headed to Broadway at this point, so they probably figured they needed it to be standardized.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 12:35am

As far as I've always understood it, but the time it ended at the Public it was more or less the exact same show that transferred uptown.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 12:47am

It really would have been cool to see it before they added One. I mean, the show just... stops. I've often wondered how the audience reacted to that.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 1:01am

Negatively, apparently! :)

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 1:13am

LOL -- true that. Still, I can see Bennett's reluctance to put it in: you've just spent all this time in this real world, hot house environment — and then all of a sudden you're wrenched out of that with this big glitzy number. I can see the point of it — here are all these kids turned into a little dancing machine that undercuts everything we've learned about them. But in another respect, it feels like a sop that spoils the integrity of everything that came before.

Like I said, would have been interesting to see it. Guess I'll have to add this to the "time machine" thread.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 4:15pm

If I recall correctly from On the Line wasn't it Marsha Mason who was very vocal after seeing an early performance at the Public about how they really needed to just set and freeze the ending? It's been a while since I've read that book so please correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Or maybe she was the one who convinced them that Cassie's "star entrance" didn't work. I definitely remember her name being connected in that book to one of the more major changes they implemented.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 4:19pm

She was vocal about saying that Cassie needed to be one of the ones who got the job at the end.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/4/13 at 4:21pm

Yeah, that's the story that has been told. I always pictured her sobbing like in The Goodbye Girl.