if there is a "lead" in A CHORUS LINE, it is the part of Cassie.
Donna McKechnie won a Tony for Best Actress for the part.
Cassie is a great part to play, but indeed a difficult one. Remember,
alot of folks that haven't seen ACL think it is about "young people" who want to be dancers....
In Fact, ACL is more about dancers who are 30ish than 18 (there is of course the 18 yr old "wet dream boy"--but most of the focus is on the "older dancers")
Cassie is a tricky part to play. She is supposed to be primarily a dancer, but a Broadway dancing performer who "has stopped two shows cold." Therefore she has tried for employment in California and met with little success except for having played a "dancing bandaid" in a commercial.
Cassie is conceived as being really "too good for the chorus, but not good enough to be a star." There can be nuanced acting involved here.
Of course, when Cassie gets to "strut her stuff alone" she gets to do it in one of the most brilliantly constructed pieces of theater Michael Bennett ever did, THE MUSIC AND THE MIRROR.
Donna was simply breathtaking when she performed that number and Ann Reinking was absolutely bewitching doing THE MUSIC AND THE MIRROR after she took over the role from Donna.
"MAY YOUR LIFE BE AS BRIGHT AS BROADWAY AT NIGHT"
