A Chorus Line 6/1

For the last couple of days I've been trying to figure out what seeing A Chorus Line for the first time has meant to me. I've seen the movie (wish I hadn't), mesmerized the recording, and watched Donna Mecheknie about 100 times on Y**Tu** doing "The Music and the Mirror" so I finally decided to go see the show through rush seats. Well, the seats were probably the worst seats to see a dancing show, but the seat I got was probably the reason why I was so moved by this show (first row dead center). The performers were right in front of my face so I could see everybody’s faces clearly which helped when I was mesmerized by Charlotte D’Amboise during the "One" scene.

This was the first time I have seen a Michael Bennett staged musical and even though it might belong in a museum I am certainly very grateful to have experienced A Chorus Line the way it was meant to felt (only in matters of choreographing and directing). But, even though it has been one of the highlights (maybe top five) of my theater going experiences there were some great flaws in terms of the performances.

Over the weekend I have tried to look at other poster's reviews of the show and its funny how strongly I agreed with some of them even though they were written when the revival first opened. The one I agreed with the most was munkustrap178's review of the revival. If you don’t mind Munk I would like to add your review her because I think it is extremely insightful and better written than mine, https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=912156#2521586.

Some of the things that haven't changed are Mara Davi's ultra powerful voice, Deidre Goodwin’s surprisingly plain performance, Natalie Cortez's fierce performance (overall in terms of characterization mixed with great dancing, singing, and acting she gave the best performance of the night). And all the other members of the company were excellent with the exception of Alison Porter (I was just bored by her). Unfortunately Jessica Lee Goldyn was out. Her understudy was very good though.

OK as for Jason Tam it is a real shame he did not get nominated for I felt totally sympathetic towards Paul and his dancing was just beautiful. Just Beautiful.

Michael Berresse is the one cast member that I strongly disliked. While Charlotte D'Amboise was busting her ass on that stage he was giving her nothing. He might be the best male dancer in the show, but the way he spoke to each character, including Cassie, was the exact same monotone voice. And this is coming from someone who loved him in Kiss Me Kate and who though he was very memorable in Light in the Piazza.

Well, as you might have figured I really liked Charlotte D'Amboise. Her dancing was great her singing was... her singing was... I guess well acted, but her acting was incredible. It is also really unfortunate that er performance can verge to overacting because Michael Berresse is literally giving her nothing in return. And now I might be giving to much credit to her now, but even though she did not have the nor the power to pull off "Music and the Mirror" her desperation in getting those notes out and holding them really made you feel that Cassie was the most committed and the one who got the most joy out of dancing in the entire company. The dance part of the number was a different story. She just doesn't have the fluidity or the beauty (in her dancing) to really pull off this dance, though her back is extremely flexible. Of course this was all made for Donna so you can't put too much of the blame on Charlotte. Basically by the end of "Music and the Mirror" Charlotte's dancing didn't take me anywhere special. But she totally redeemed herself from lack of "show stoppingness" in "Music and the Mirror" by her passion in the "One" scene. Because I was so close up to the cast I could see the joy that Cassie was going through really getting to dance her heart out which changed a moment later in sheer confusion and desperation. Definitely worthy of that nomination Charlotte!

To conclude I just want to say a few things about the Finale. Now I have heard everyone say how great the finale is and I understood Michael Bennett's reasoning behind the whole number, but I never expected it to really hit me the way it did. To see all those dancers dancing so wonderfully in unison I felt a little sadness in the lack of individuality a chorus member has. And by the end I was drawn into the costumes, lights, music, and dancing so much that I just couldn't stop smiling and I just couldn't wait until the next time I would see it.

Updated On: 6/3/07 at 08:04 PM

excellent review! I felt the same exact way with Charlotte's performance. You feel so much for her character. Her acting is fantastic. And I agree about Ms Porter. I've seen the show a couple of times and everytime she looks completely bored out of her mind on that stage as well as mouthing things to other castmembers like "who farted". You'd think being someone in the cast to have done so much, she'd be the most professional.

I completely 100% agree with your review. Thanks!

yeah, it wasnt i didnt like her, i was just disappointed after all the hype on her performance. but no, she certainly wasnt as uninteresting as Deidre or Michael...

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Dirty_Rotten_Guy, as much as I wanted to like Natalie in this role, upon seeing this show for the fifth time on 6/2, and while she can sing and dance, her portrayal just bugs me. Perhaps it's because she's stuck with some cheesy "c'mon you guys"-type lines, but she continually sounds to me like she's acting in some afterschool special or something. Maybe it's her physicality - there's a weird stiff back/up-and-down shoulder thing she does. Maybe some combination thereof.

Again, I LIKE HER. Just not in this show. It's a taste thing, I guess.

So on Saturday night, Charlotte was out, and Nadine Isenegger is on as Cassie. Nadine was actually pretty decent in the role, singing and acting her way through Music in the Mirror pretty well. Her dancing works, in a way, because while Charlotte makes it look easy (while trying to make it look hard - a noble effort), Nadine really looks like she's giving her all, and if she's not as flexible as Charlotte, there's a better payoff. However, when it comes to the first One, her "standing out" of the ensemble is not noticeable because it becomes completely exaggerated, and it ends up not working at all.

Pamela Jordan was on as Val (Jessica Lee Goldyn was actually in a box then moved down to the back of the orchestra, she looked like she was sniffling). Jordan was pretty good, definitely playing up the nastiness, perhaps a little too much to be completelely likeable by the audience. But was pretty fun in Dance Ten, Looks Three and does a nice job with it.

Jason Tam is still great, although the audience wasn't completely with him that night.

Amneris, I did notice the last couple of times seeing the show the whole "let's choose someone to giggle at incessantly" that is done by half the ensemble. A couple of week ago, I noticed it being done when Ken Alan stepped forward - perhaps because I was a repeat viewer and knew it wasn't standard, it was ridiculously distracting, at some point I was just praying that he would turn around to see if it was actually something on his back or something, it just wouldn't stop. Last night, it was Chryssie Whitehead's turn - all throughout Sing, it's all I noticed. It's very weird.

FYI A very tan Michael Riedel walked in solo to the show. Wonder if he's a closet fan now?

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where are alisan and chryssie going? I think Chryssie is in a salad dressing commercial.

On a side note, anyone else notice how thin some of the male cast (especially Tony Yazbek) have gotten since the show opened? Not that it's a good or bad thing, just something I noticed.

Oh, and I continue to love Deidre, she's still one of my faves in the cast.

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Hi I refer to my review of ACL posted last week, have a peep! Put RobUK into the search.