A Chorus Line Tour

Seeing it tomorrow night.

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I'm going next Thursday. There have been no reviews yet, but the local papers should run something this weekend. I am treating a friend who has never seen it, so I am looking forward to his "virgin" reaction. I recall a huge emotional connection when I saw it 20 years ago.

Here's a review from last night's performance:

https://florida.broadwayworld.com/article/A_Chorus_Line_May_It_Run_Forever_20090218

Isn't Nikki Snelson in it?? the original brooke from Legally Blonde?I really like her

I saw the Saturday matinee (2/14) in Orlando. The cast was good and there were some standouts (Kevin Santos [Paul] and Gabrielle Ruiz [Diana])

In many ways, this tour is a better tribute to Michael Bennett than the Broadway revival was. First off, it doesn't have to cope with the jaded Broadway audience's comparisons to the original production.

Next, it has terrific chemistry between Robyn Hurder and Sebastian La Cause as Cassie and Zach. He was a tough and sometimes nasty Zach, which gives the show bite. And when he made it all about Cassie having walked out on him, there was an element of vindictiveness that made his eventual choosing her a surprise--just the way it was written.

Robyn Hurder's "Music and the Mirror" was nicely sung and beautifully danced--a real pleasure. Her sadness at Cassie's not being able to act and not having become a star was sharply edged. I didn't expect to like her as much as I did.

When you have a good Cassie and Zach, the dynamics of the drama overall fall into place.

Shannon Lewis and Mindy Dougherty were excellent as Sheila and Val--with Lewis getting some surprising multi-leveled tones out of her one-liners. The boys were all good, especially Alex Ringler as a very statuesque Greg and Anthony Wayne as a big loud Richie.

Overall, the acting was good and the dancing spectacular.

My biggest beef with this company, like the Broadway revival, is that all the female voices sounded so shrill compared to the OBC. There is a vulnerability to the women's voices on the recording that I remember from sitting in the Newman and the Shubert--a throbbing, aching vulnerability. Now it's like they get those gals belting and belting HARD.

And I like belters!

But overall, I'm still glowing and I imagine that the ghost of Michael Bennett is smiling.

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Updated On: 2/20/09 at 09:11 AM

I am seeing it when it comes through St. Louis in May!

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Saw it in Toronto , I thought it was a pretty good show.

It sounds like the tour is in better shape than when I saw it with it's original cast in Boston. That's great to hear. (Especially since I thought that the tour in Boston with the exception of Nikki Snelson and Jessica Wu, was in embarrassingly bad shape.)

seeing it in DC in mid-March!!

I re-visited the Broward Center and I got to see Rebecca Riker as Sheila, who was wonderful, even better than Shanon Lewis who plays it on a regular basis.
Valery Clark was played by Mindy Dougherty, and honestly, her understudy Stephanie Martignetti was 10 times better!
Whoever played Maggie was supposed to hit a big note in "At The Ballet" and wasn't able to hit it, that was painful, her voice is not good enough to play Maggie. The actresses that played Maggie on Broadway were all top notch. That wasn't acceptable for a National Tour.
On the other hand, Clyde Alves, Gabrielle Ruiz, Bethany Moore, Sebastian La Cause, among others were brilliant.
Robyn Hurder got a big applause after "The Music and the Mirror" and she certainly did her best, but I have Tony Nominated Charlotte D'Amboise's Cassie very fresh in my mind, and her acting was a lot more heartfelt and her dance technique was many times superior.

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The Maggie I saw in Fort Lauderdale hit it all the way to Boca Raton.

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