A Chorus Line - Signature Theatre

[Deena Jones]

Has anyone seen it?  It has new choreography by Denis Jones

https://www.sigtheatre.org/events/201920/a-chorus-line/

[freewilma]

I'm looking forward to seeing this new take on the choreography.    http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/without-michael-bennetts-choreography-is-it-still-a-chorus-line/2019/10/30/b758eaa4-f9a3-11e9-ac8c-8eced29ca6ef_story.html

[DottieD'Luscia]

I saw it Wednesday night (2nd preview).  I'll definitely go back as it was a very uneven performance that I saw.  The choreography is fine, although I miss Michael Bennett's finale.  Overall, things seemed to gel during Richie's "Gimme the ball" in "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen".

[JBC3]

You do not f!%k with that finale.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

My friend from high school is actually in it!  I would have loved to see him, but I'm moving further from DC sadly

[VernonGersch]

Matthew Risch is a goddamn national treasure and worth to see him on stage alone.

 

[Rosette3]

I'm seeing it on Wednesday. I am tryi g to see more local theater but it will be first Sig Theater production. I had tickets to their production of WSS forever long ago but it got cancelled due to a snow storm (2015?)

FYI it's also on TodayTix. I got my ticket for $35.

[freewilma]

Signature also has great $25 student tickets. Very seldom do I pay full fare for a ticket there...as long as I plan ahead. Additionally they have day-of rush tickets too. However I am NOT a fan of their bar stool seats on the back row of the balcony.

[GetUp&LiveIt]

I'll tell you what looks incredibly tired. Those pictures of the Antonio Banderas production that just came out today. SNORE. I never need to see that carbon copy from 1975 again.

[Up In One]

Sacrilege! The staging and choreography are part of its being. I’m looking forward to seeing a new take but it’s going to be tough to top. I do like the idea of the audience surrounding the show as if they were in the rehearsal hall.

This does bring up the concept of revivals ignoring the original directors part of the collaboration. So many musicals were reliant on that input - more so than plays - that there are times we should be able to experience that staging. I would love to see Hal Prince’s Follies again yet I am looking forward to what the upcoming West Side Story will look like. I found the Pippin revival a drag trying to reinvent yet keeping the Fosse choreography. Fosse’s contribution was the best thing about the original and looked watered down in the revivals concept. Time will tell but anyone restaging A Chorus Line will have to come up with a lot of magic to replace his intrinsic contribution. That said I really am looking forward to seeing the DC production and would love to see the Spain production.

[brotherhoodofman]

I saw it on Friday. It was ... fine?

I saw a Chorus Line maybe 10 years ago on TV, so I'll admit to not being super familiar with the specific choreography. I felt this production really lagged in the middle. There seemed to be a lot of shuffling in the seats around me so I think others felt the same. I felt like it didn't hit its stride until Paul's monologue. 

The end has everyone tapping out on stage one by one in the shiny gold costumes, then ending with the kick line. 

If anyone has specific questions, please ask!

[GetUp&LiveIt]

It looks sensational. Maybe the first "new" looking production of Chorus Line ever. Can't wait to see it in a couple weeks! 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/PHOTOSVIDEO-Get-a-First-Look-at-Signature-Theatres-A-CHORUS-LINE-20191107

[JBC3]

Exactly what about this looks "sensational"? I'm not saying it doesn't look appealing, but I'm not seeing anything particularly sensational.

Costuming looks like what you expect (other than change in color for the closing number) and the only thing novel appears to be the LED projections at the back ... which does provide some interesting energy.

[GetUp&LiveIt]

http://www.playbill.com/article/a-first-look-at-antonio-banderas-in-spanish-version-of-a-chorus-line. Here is an example of the same tired and boring production we've seen for the last 45 years. Baayork Lee just turning out the same paint by numbers production, void of any real emotion. And if you do a simple google image search you'll see that every other production looks identical. A carbon copy, hollow vessel of it's former self. 

This on the other hand looks alive. It looks exciting and vibrant and not like the same old production we've watched forever.

I'm excited to see it. We will see if the energy from this video translates on stage. As a huge fan of Signature's past productions, I can't imagine it won't

[JBC3]

lol

anything compilation of rapidly changing video clips will look more exciting than static excerpts from a production, but I'm glad you are so excited for it

[GetUp&LiveIt]

Rapidly changing video clips? I'm talking about the production shots

[doodlenyc]

I saw it Saturday, and it was good, but certainly not great. I LOVE this theater and we travel about 3 times a year to see shows there. They are often uneven, like with this production, but never bad and often great.

This is definitely worth seeing, imo, even if the cast is very uneven. I didn't mind the new choreo, as it is definitely a pared down version of Bennett's...Bennett light! Especially for the finale, I don't see how they couldn't re-stage it as the stage is so small. "Music and the Mirror" was the only real disappointment for me.

Standouts were Maria Rizzo as Sheila, a Signature regular, Jeff Gorti as Paul, for the monologue alone, and especially Samantha Gershman as Diana who was sweet and funny with a terrific voice. One of the best "Nothing" perfs I've seen.

I kept wondering how I knew the guy who played Al, Vincent Kempski, and finally realized he was a GREAT Booth in their recent "Assassins". Talk about versatile!

[JBC3]

Washington Post review:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/a-chorus-line-is-back-and-youll-enjoy-the-new-spring-in-its-step/2019/11/07/fac43908-010d-11ea-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html

[devonian.t]

I know this is heresy, but I saw the replica production at the London Palladium and the choreography looked rather tame compared with the heights modern dancers can hit.  The lack of lifts was especially noticeable.

I've seen the original- I'd like to see another vision.  Not even Shakespeare deserves to be set in stone.  

[bk]

Well, I watched and thought it looked absolutely dreadful - only brief shots, I know, but all the floor lights and hyped up concert lighting is so wrong for this show.  I miss Tharon Musser - she was a lighting designer who understood exactly what she was lighting.

[Rosette3]

I saw this production 11/6 and overall thoroughly enjoyed it. I wasn't sure what to expect being at my first experience with Signature Theater. I have not seen the original Chorus Line and cannot speak to the comparison of past and present. I do agree that other commenters that cast felt uneven. You can definitely tell who were the standout triple threats who had great vocals, dance technique and performances against others that were less impressive in comparison. I'm a dancer and found Cassie's dancing during her solo a little hard to watch. It was very stiff like she wasn't dancing full out or perhaps working through an injury. It was confusing bc her bio mentioned be on Broadway and a few ballet companies... Maria Rizzo (Sheila) Trevor Michael Smith (Mike), and Phil Young (Richie) were my favorite of the night. I'd still recc'd it to anyone who's on the fence.

[devonian.t]

bk, I think it's hard to judge the lighting out of context- more naturalistic "working lights" might be used for the book scenes.

Some of the archaic effects were quite cringe-worthy in the Palladium production.

[carousel94]

“Some of the archaic effects were quite cringe-worthy in the Palladium production.”

Which effects do you mean?

[morosco]

Do the mirrors ever get any larger than they appear here in this photo? They kinda don't make any sense.



 

[AEA AGMA SM]

bk said: "Well, I watched and thought it looked absolutely dreadful - only brief shots, I know, but all the floor lights and hyped up concert lighting is so wrong for this show. I miss Tharon Musser - she was a lighting designer who understood exactly what she was lighting."

Tharon Musser pioneered the use of a fully computerized lighting console on Broadway with the original production (not to mention the incredible work she did on the original production of Dreamgirls). I have no doubt that if she had hypothetically designed the show in the 80s, 90s, or even today, that she would embrace whatever techniques, equipment, and technology would be available at the time. She was not named the Dean of American Lighting Designers for keeping her design aesthetic rooted in a 1970s mindset.