Chorus struggles

Just like it’s supposed to

By Katherine Joyce

GREAT ENSEMBLE CAST: director Raymond Marc Dumont has crafted a well blended unit.

I grew up in a small town. Adding insult to injury, the small town was located in the state of New Jersey. Nonetheless, a redeeming quality was the 40-minute bus ride to New York. That’s right, 40 minutes to Broadway. Every young Jersey girl worth her high bangs dreamed of moving to the Big Apple and making it on Broadway (or, in the alternative, getting cast in a Bon Jovi video). It was a romantic notion of the thrill of a dancer’s lifestyle. Fame and Flashdance just stoked the desire to dance, to sing, to have a practical reason to wear legwarmers.

New York director/choreographer Michael Bennett wanted to do a show that focused on the unknown dancers of Broadway: the chorus. In 1974, Bennett invited a group of dancers to come and discuss their personal and professional lives. These interviews were recorded, and eventually pieced into the libretto of A Chorus Line.

A Chorus Line broke away from the traditional structure of a musical by taking a collage of stories and weaving them together into one seamless story. It opened off-Broadway at Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre in 1975 and quickly moved to Broadway to become an award-winning hit. The show closed 15 years later, but continues to be popular in regional theaters and in its 1985 film version featuring Michael Douglas.

The story centers around an audition for eight spots in the chorus of a new Broadway musical. A motley group of dancers complies with the exhausting demands of a cattle call, dancing and singing their hearts out. Their first job is to be unique, to stand out in the crowd. After the director makes the first cut, he wants to know more about the dancers who are left. Each dancer opens up, and tells the story of how he or she came to be a dancer vying for a position on Broadway.

As the audition progresses, the task changes. The aim becomes not standing out, to prove the ability to mesh into a perfect line of identical bodies moving in unison. Stand-outs are penalized for not being capable of the unison of the chorus, even if their flaw is that they are extraordinarily good.

Not surprisingly, many of the dancers’ personal stories involve struggles — with talent, with looks, with sexuality, with family. And despite all of the difficulties these dancers have endured to get to this audition, each is there because he or she really needs the job. Some are just starting out, some are just at the sunset of their chorus-girl careers. They all want or wanted to be stars, but most of all, they want to dance (and get paid for it). Romantic illusions? This musical adds an edge to that romance — an edge that is hungry, tired, and late with rent payments.

This group of local performers comes together to make a great ensemble cast. Their voices blend well, they dance well as a unit. They make the perfect chorus. As they separate from the group to perform their individual stories it becomes clear that a few cast members lead the group. For example, Meg Doherty-Scannell clearly heads the chorus with her outstanding vocal skills. Lori Johnson is a clear focal point of the chorus dancing. And, although not everyone is following, Dani Clark provides a great example for the acting, with his natural, conversational style.

Unfortunately, not all of the numbers are chorus numbers. Although there is plenty of dancing talent, and most of the cast members are able to hold their own with the choreography provided, not all of the cast members can sing well. Don’t get me wrong, they can hold a tune, it’s just that the average range of the cast is six to eight notes. So a strong voice starts to waver and crack as a number moves from the easy, repetitive verse, to the more difficult bridge in a different key. This is a major flaw in the show. It’s clear that dancing was a major part of the audition for this cast, but a musical is dancing and singing. These performers could have used some more work on their vocals.

The choreography and direction are wonderful. Raymond Marc Dumont, who handled both chores, was mindful of requirements of the show, as well as the limitations of both space and ability. He uses the space to feed the dynamic of the competitive relationships, and to support the seamless chorus line numbers. The lights are appropriate for an audition, although the follow spot was occasionally a little late, or off center, during last weekend’s show.

Is this a flawless production? No. I would lie if I said there are no weak voices, no exaggerated acting. However, this production of A Chorus Line does a great job of paying tribute to struggles of the faceless performers who provide the backbone for musical theater. It revives the meaning behind familiar tunes, and reminds us of the importance of the chorus to the Broadway we all imagine. This reminder is particularly timely as Broadway struggles to recover from the severe impact of reduced tourism on the viability of several Broadway hits. The lead actors, the chorus, the crew, all have taken pay cuts in order to save the shows that make American’s public sing. And although it may have made their lives more difficult, I’m willing to bet not one regrets “What I Did For Love.”

Katherine Joyce can be reached at ingliskat@aol.com.