A Chorus Line (tour) - Washington, DC

I just got back from this evening's performance of the national tour of A Chorus Line and absolutely loved it. I saw the Broadway production 3 times, and I actually prefer what I saw tonight. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the Broadway production, but for some reason, some of the people on tour were stronger in their roles in comparison to their Broadway counterparts.

I really liked this cast. Some of my favorites (in no particular order) were:

Robyn Hurder as Cassie was wonderful. Her dancing, singing and acting were excellent; especially her scenes with Sebastian La Cause (Zach). I loved "Music and the Mirror", and really liked Sebastian as Zach.

Paul was played by understudy Jordan Fife Hunt. I was disappointed when I saw the slip in the Playbill as I really wanted to see Kevin Santos. No need to worry, Jordan was excellent. His scene with Zach was very heartfelt and brought tears to my eyes.

Gabrielle Ruiz (Diana) - a beautifully sung and acted performance.

I've seen Clyde Alves (Mike) in many shows, but never saw him dance like I saw him tonight. Who knew he had such an extension?! I could not keep my eyes off of him during the opening number.

Anthony Wayne (Richie) - funny and fab-u-lous!!!

David Hull (Mark) - cute as a button, and very believeable as Mark.

Mindy Dougherty (Val) - loved her!!

Because I only singled a few people out doesn't mean anything. The entire cast was very strong. I thought the choreography was executed crisply. I liked that I had a seat in the mezzanine as to appreciate Michael Bennett's staging and patterns in the choreography. The opening sequence brought tears to my eyes for some reason, and the finale just gave me chills!

What an enjoyable evening. I plan on returning at least one more time before the show leaves DC. So happy that they'll be here for two weeks.

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Updated On: 3/14/09 at 11:45 PM

PalJoey, it also reminded me of how certain shows should not be tinkered with (WSS - cough, cough).

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Seeing it tonight. Thanks for the review.

I saw the tour in Fort Lauderdale as well, this is my review:

I just came back from the show. I will always love this show, although for some reason, it felt like it dragged towards the end.
I thought that some of the performers were amateur-ish, but some others were excellent.
The only understudy was Stephanie Martignetti as Val, she was outstanding, her Val was even better than Jessica Lee Goldwyn's and Mindy Dougherty's.
Most of the cast was great, but the female singers weren't good at ALL, for exception of a few.
Gabrielle Ruiz and Liza Domingo were very good, and Robyn Hurder was great as Cassie, but as much open minded as I was, not many of the actresses that will play Cassie will ever be as good as Tony-nominated Charlotte D'Amboise. D'Amboise's dancing technique was absolutely flawless, I don't think many other actresses can act or dance as good as Charlotte.
The male cast was very good, there were no weak singers, and I have to say that Colt Prattes was absolutely gorgeous, and the sexiest Al I've seen.
Bethany Moore stood out as Judy Turner, she was one of the stronger performers in the cast.

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I enjoyed Robyn and Sebastian much more than Charlotte and Michael--and I have liked them both enormously in the past.

Sebastian was my favorite Zach since Eivind Harum.

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I also saw the tour in DC. I hadn't seen the show before the Broadway revival and it did not live up to my expectations. I liked the tour much, much better.

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Tomorrow night will be the fourth time I would have seen this tour. Never have I seen a show so many times within a short time period. This production is that good!! I'm going with a friend of mine who has never seen this show. I'm really curious as to what she'll think.

The only other tours I'd seen just as much was The Light in the Piazza which I saw in 3 different cities and the original Hairspray tour.

During the run of A Chorus Line in DC, I saw 3 different Pauls, 2 Cassies, 2 Vals, 2 Shielas, 2 Christines, 2 Gregs, and 2 Bobbys. The understudies in this production were all wonderfully strong.

Wickedfan11, I agree with your standouts. As much as I liked Mindy Dougherty as Val, I thought her understudy, Stephanie Martignetti was even better!

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I'm glad Jordan Fife Hunt did a wonderful job as Paul. He joined the tour more recently, so it's great that he got the chance to go on and show what he can do!

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