A CHORUS LINE Tribute Fail

Where were all the living alumni to celebrate this iconic show properly vs. making it a preview of Evita sings ACL poorly and without any feeling 

OhHiii said: "I also find it bizarre they had Rachel singthe exact same song Nicole sang 2 years ago for the In Memoriam segment. Come to Broadway as a Jamie Lloyd leading lady, sing What I Did For Love at the Tonys the year prior, apparently."

I remembered Scherzinger performing two years ago but had forgotten it was the same song. I just watched Scherzinger’s performance again, and they kind of set Zegler up to fail. The arrangement was better in 2024 and Zegler seemed uncomfortable. I know she’s an excellent vocalist who just performed at Radio City Music Hall in The Last Five Years and got rave reviews in London in Evita. She will be fine, but if the goal was to raise her profile and sell tickets to Evita, that didn’t work.

I understand that someone has to pay for these performances but who knew the Weisslers had become such big spenders?

In the end, the whole thing was a failure on all fronts. There’s no point in honoring A Chorus Line with that. I’m not really the biggest fan of that musical but I know its significance in Broadway history. How hard would it have been to get some ACL vets to introduce some young dancers performing ‘One’? People would have loved that as opposed to those awful ‘comedy’ routines.

And if that’s too costly, just skip the whole thing.

It would've been so much better (and appropriate) if Zegler were singing "what I Did For Love" for the In Memoriam segment (instead of whatever LOJ was trying to do as he desecrated "Without You") with that self-indulgent caterwauling!.

 

When I saw Nicole presenting, I said “can you imagine her as Sheila in A Chorus Line” and I’ve been thinking about it all day today. 

My first thought as I was watching it is why they didn't have Lopez do the song. Then thought maybe they did but she may have declined. It just felt a little strange as the other tributes had past and current casts performing. There was just a kind of disconnect, for lack of a better term maybe, with the rest of the tributes. JMO

uncageg said: "My first thought as I was watching it is why they didn't have Lopez do the song."

Mine, Too! (Maybe w/a slideshow of the original B'way production playing behind her.)

Zegler was fine, but (IMO) completely disconnected as any kind of 50 year tribute. Half a century, and the show's historical significance deserved a little more. It might have been better to have done nothing.

PIZZAGIRL2 said: "nothing is a very long number and maybe too comedic for a tribute moment..."

Priscilla Lopez also sang, "What I Did For Love". 

When I wrote, "It might have been better to have done nothing", I meant it with its lowercase "n".

Updated On: 6/8/26 at 09:40 PM

dramamama611 said: "Zeppie2022 said: "A tribute to this show without any dancing is unbelievable."

But to do that takes $$. Who was going to pay for it?"

Then don't do it if you can't do it properly.

 

I feel like paying Donna McKechnie and a few Cassies to recreate that Music and the Mirror from the concert would have been cheaper than Rachel Zegler?

TheatreFan4 said: "I feel like paying Donna McKechnie and a few Cassies to recreate that Music and the Mirror from the concert would have been cheaper than Rachel Zegler?"

They already had an ensemble of dancers on hand. Would it have been so difficult to recreate the "One (Rehearsal)" number, pantomimed behind her as she sang?

So many options that noone had enough respect for the show to act on.