50th Anniversary Revival of A CHORUS LINE still on track for 2025?

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 4:30pm

I know a lot has happened since this was originally announced in 2016 (when everyone was flabbergasted at how distant that was in the then-future). But with the Antonio Banderas production rumors, the Ryan Murphy series still in development possibly, thought I'd ask what thoughts were. Here is the link to the original article.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/50th-Anniversary-Revival-of-A-CHORUS-LINE-in-the-Works-for-2025-20160610

Producer and Michael Bennett estate executor John Breglio revealed plans for a revival of A Chorus Line in 2025, coinciding with the show's 50th anniversary. Breglio also produced the 2006 revival of the show.

At 79, he’d like to produce a second Broadway revival of A Chorus Line. It will be timed to the original’s 50th anniversary — in 2025. “You realize it’s only nine years away,” said Breglio, who is executor of the Bennett estate. “The big question is, do we do another replica or a new direction and new version.” Reinventing the musical, Broadway’s sixth-longest-running Broadway show and a groundbreaker to which Hamilton has been compared,  “takes a lot of courage” for a director, he said.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 4:32pm

How is it comparable to Hamilton? 

And I'd love a new vision. 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 4:36pm

RippedMan said: "How is it comparable to Hamilton?

And I'd love a new vision."

They both premiered at the Public to critical acclaim, transferred to Broadway, won the Tony for Best Musical, then the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 4:46pm

jacobsnchz14 said: "RippedMan said: "How is it comparable to Hamilton?

And I'd love a new vision."

They both premiered at the Public to critical acclaim, transferred to Broadway, won the Tony for Best Musical, then the Pulitzer Prize for Drama."

Oh okay. I thought they meant artistically... 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 4:54pm

Fair question! 😅 

[The8re phan]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 5:19pm

This will be tricky.......i'm all for a reinterpretation, but especially if billed as the '50th Anniversary production', it needs to be in Bennett's style.  

Kinda like how Chicago was re-invented, but still absolutely screamed Fosse

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 5:49pm

I'd agree with that. But why not add something to it? Scenery for all the songs that flesh it out a bit more? Or something. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 6:09pm

It has been done to death in the Bennett style. It is time for someone to give a fresh look at A CHORUS LINE. Even if there are elements of it that share the Bennett style –– the opening and finale, for example –– I think we need to let some other people experiment with it. It is going to die as a museum piece. The 2006 revival and the Encores presentation got poor reviews.

Christopher Wheeldon would be my choice to reimagine the show.

A radical idea, but perhaps John Breglio should make arrangements for 5 major regional theatres to explore the show in full productions. Limited parameters beyond keeping the written material intact (maybe save for some gender fluidity in characters). There are many things to be explored. Different directing and choreography styles. The design. New orchestrations and new choreography? Same orchestration, new choreo? A hybrid of the Bennett choreo and new choreo?

The show was daring and thrilling when it opened, and these most recent carbon-copy revivals supervised by Bob Avian (RIP) and Baayork Lee have sucked the life out of the show. It's time to move on. I think Bennett would want the show to be reinterpreted by artists of today.

Updated On: 4/7/22 at 06:09 PM

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 6:16pm

Signature Theatre https://youtu.be/HLDPAKj1Ew0

Sacramento Music Circus https://youtu.be/bdgC-znM3Ts

Curve Leicester https://youtu.be/YUm_O4gSd5w

Stratford Festival https://youtu.be/K39XX_sXjfM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 6:32pm

Those 4 all look like every other A Chorus Line just maybe some modern lighting and stuff. But costumes/dancing all looks the same.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 6:33pm

I wouldn't mind seeing some roles gender swapped. A male Cassie/female Zach? Three guys doing At The Ballet? Paul and Val swapped?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 6:40pm

ACL2006 said: "I wouldn't mind seeing some roles gender swapped. A male Cassie/female Zach? Three guys doing At The Ballet? Paul and Val swapped?"

What if Val is a trans woman who had gender-affirmation surgery? (I don't know if that's a good or bad idea –– just spitballing, don't cancel me)

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 7:02pm

Just the mention of this show fills me with dread after the Gateway Playhouse's dreary production of  it 4 years ago.

Updated On: 4/7/22 at 07:02 PM

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 7:58pm

I know I represent a minority opinion, but I have never loved ACL(I liked it, but thought it was woefully overrated), and -- having seen the last revival --my earlier opinions were reinforced.  The overrated show (IMO in the first place) did not age well.

Logically, the only way to revive ACL any time soon -- and not have it look like a tired relic -- will be to totally reimagine it.  That said, when you think of a reimagining, you usually think about the physical production, the direction / choreography, maybe playing around with the book, maybe eliminating a song or adding some other song from the composer.  The problem I have is that the score for ACL is its weakest component.  How do you reimagine it, while retaining the original score?  Also, some of the stories are pretty tired 50 years later...do you update some or all of the stories? do you get in a new composer to improve the score? 

In 1975, I could just not comprehend how Chicago got lost in the ACL shuffle;I feel pretty confident that  time has proven that Chicago is a more timeless show, with a far superior score;  Of course, it won't have a 50 year revival, because it will probably still be running; if it has managed to close, perhaps there can be a 50th year revival of the current revival.

[joevitus]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 8:46pm

RippedMan said: "I'd agree with that. But why not add something to it? Scenery for all the songs that flesh it out a bit more? Or something."

Yeah, what this show that is set on an empty stage needs is...scenery for the songs.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 9:13pm

I would love to see the finale with an approach where, after that long audition, we see a female Broadway diva up front, and the dancers singing "One" to her, fading in her shadow.

This to show the heart breaking reality of being in an ensemble where the leads in the chorus are really destined to remain in the back of the stage. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 10:06pm

I'm open to reinvention, but I'm also OK with the so-called museum piece version.  Revisiting a classic has its benefits and for those who have never seen the original staging, it also is powerful.

 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 10:23pm

I would love to see a fresh new staging of the material. Some of the ideas here for reinterpretation are actually quite interesting -- but I think when you consider things like gender swapping characters, or making Val trans (certainly an interesting idea) the script/lyrics would need a major "Company" level re-write for the musical to work set in any other time period than the mid 1970s.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 11:03pm

If you want to reinvent it keep Baayork far far away. She’s impossible. The show is so boring at this point. I fell asleep during the last revival. I understand it’s place in history and it’s legendary status. I loved it in the 80s. It just doesn’t hold up imho. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 11:07pm

I so disagree with that statement that it doesn't hold up anymore. The City Center production a few years ago was BRILLIANT. This might be the one show where I'd personally be ok if they never changed it. For me, it just works so perfectly as is. Obviously that's not how theater works but any chance I get to see that show (as done originally), I'll jump at. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 11:31pm

QueenAlice said: "the script/lyrics would need a major "Company" level re-write for the musical to work set in any other time period than the mid 1970s."

I guess it depends on how literal the staging is. John Doyle's Company and Daniel Fish's Oklahoma worked set in nonspecific times without changing the text. (((Please keep both of those men far away from ACL!!!)))

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 11:36pm

Maybe if there had to be a compromise: Hire someone like Justin Peck or Christopher Wheeldon to adapt the choreography, and don't be beholden to any of the original designs of the show. So even if a majority of the choreo is based on the Bennett, it's being reinterpreted by a contemporary artist (and embellished/altered wherever appropriate).

Sometimes reexamining a show can be quite simple. Maybe they're in an all-white nonliteral theatrical space instead of on a black bare stage (a gift to the lighting designer at minimum). Or they're on a stage with some stray flats & scaffolding from whatever show just closed, which now gives the space more dimensionality than a flat stage.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/7/22 at 11:43pm

RippedMan said: "I'd agree with that. But why not add something to it? Scenery for all the songs that flesh it out a bit more? Or something."

The show takes place on a bare stage during an audition. This show doesn't need scenery to flesh anything out, in my opinion. It has a great book and score which brought everything to life in my mind. 

For this anniversary, I would like to see all of the original staging and choreography with a cast assembled like the original was. (of course, without the recording session) No big names.  JMO

 

[lotiloti]

Posted: 4/8/22 at 4:40am

I've seen many different productions from original Broadway onwards.

The first time I felt a similar exhilaration to the original, was  the Curve Leicester production.

Went in with no great expectations, but was blown away with this new version.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Posted: 4/8/22 at 6:58am

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I guess it depends on how literal the staging is. John Doyle's Company and Daniel Fish's Oklahoma worked set in nonspecific times without changing the text. (((Please keep both of those men far away from ACL!!!)))"

You don’t want to see Cassie singing and dancing Music and the Mirror while playing the tuba?