What Does The Chorus Line Revival Curtain Look Like?
Updated On: 9/1/06 at 12:23 AM
There is no curtain at all. Just the bare stage and then a black out, if I can remember correctly.
Drtheater
It's just a red curtain. Nothing fancy, and it goes up in darkness.
Leading Actor Joined: 10/19/04
saw the show today in san fran. there was no curtain. just curious too, is " i can do that" usually a tap number? the show was fantastic, but i couldn't stand val and diana. maybe they'll get better in a month? everyone else was amazing - especially maggie and paul.
Yeah... I was going to say- there has never been a production with a curtain that I know of.
I seriously thought there was a curtain before the show. Maybe I'm confusing it with something else. Thanks for correcting me.
Loved Diana, Val - just so so.
I think it has always been a tap number.
MB will be able to verify.
I Can Do That has always had tap.
No curtain ever... in any Michael Bennett (re)production of this show.
No, there is no curtain.
No, "I Can Do That" is not a tap number. Wayne wore tap shoes for the recording of the cast album and that is it.
Well, they don't wear tap shoes during the tap combination later in the show either, but it still has tap.
I think there is a tap solo within the number.
Again, I can't swear to it.
Sorry, I wasn't clear. Yes, there is tap choreography they just don't wear tap shoes. Best12bars kinda made that a bit clearer than I.
Yeah, I was referring to the tap choreography, not the footwear.
But this is not full-on "42nd Street," if that's what some of you are thinking (or expecting?).
From someone who has seen the current revival:
There is no curtain. It is an entirely blacked out stage, no lights, so dim you can only make out the thick white line running the length of the lip of the stage.
There is also no curtain call.
The lack of both are to maintain the theme/mood/embiance, etc that this is NOT a show for the characters, but a day at work, an audition. You don't have a curtain at an audition and you certainly don't bow after one either.
Updated On: 9/1/06 at 12:07 PM
"There is also no curtain call."
Not true. The bows are built in to the "ONE" finale... beginning with Paul, when he comes out in his gold outfit (while everyone else is frantically changing back stage).
From an audience's perspective, it is often difficult during the choreographed bows, to tell exactly who these individual performers are, even though you've just been watching them for two hours, and they are all "bowing" to the audience individually. This was intentional... to have them all blend together, once the uniformed finale costumes were put on.
It's a brilliant idea, really. To have the audience struggle to recognize these individual "chorus members" in their curtain call... but they almost can't even do it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
yeah, pitch black in the beginning and fade to black at the end as they back up. Works for me.
I liked how Zach ended up in the chorus line at the end as well.
I saw the show on Friday and I have a lot to say abou it, but i am just gonna start with one simple opinion. Charlotte just doesn't cut it. She has no heart, no hunger. Her dancing is beautiful but it is copmltely hollow. No emotion. It's a sad truth.
I'm curious, was this the first time you saw A Chorus Line, or have you seen it before, and have fond memories of another cast?
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
There is no curtain, empty stage with a stool downstage right.
I Can Do That is a tap number, but you can't hear the taps because he doesn't have tap shoes. The reason is because Mike (the character) doesn't leave the stage between the opening and I Can Do That, so he doesn't have time to put the tap shoes on. And if he wore them from the top, it would be distracting to have one person wearing tap shoes for the whole show. Remeber Michael Bennett wanted A Chorus Line as realistic as possible. So during a real audition, a person would not put on tap shoes to do a tap, when a director asked him about his life!
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