A Chorus Line Tour Review

Saw the opening of the A Chorus Line tour in Seattle last night. Absolutely loved it! A finely cast ensemble with quite a few standouts (actually, not a weak link, well maybe one, in the cast).

Nikki Snelson (Cassie): Wonderful! Her "Music and the Mirror" was overwhelming. Her build up to it was quite fantastic. She danced flawlessly and sang full-out (in fact, many of the actors could be heard above their mikes last night. I loved the sound design for this show, usually tour sound is quite inconsistent). I wish it were running longer on Broadway so she could step into the role (and I imagine more people would enjoy her than D'Amboise's rather bland Cassie).

Michael Gruber (Zach): My only real problem with the show. He was a serviceable Zach, but Snelson acted circles around him in their big scene. He did have a nice moment with Paul. But I just found Gruber, and I've seen him in quite a few shows doing better work than this, a generic Zach.

Gabrielle Ruiz (Diana): One of the best performances of the night. What a voice she has! Her "What I Did for Love" was fantastic (with great support by the company. They sounded great here) and moving. Her "NOthing" was also top-notch (the entire Montage sequence was the highlight of the night for me).

Natalie Elise Hall (Val): Probably the funniest Val I've seen. "Dance Ten Looks Three" was spot on. She got huge laughs on every line. I cannot articulate how hilarious she was.

Emily Fletcher (Sheila): Seemed to be channeling Kelly Bishop (which I have no problem with). A big improvement over Goodwin (who I hated in the role). A striking presence and a touching final moment.

Kevin Santos (Paul): Paul's monologue is probably my favorite non-musical moment of A Chorus Line. Santos is quite charming (and adorable as hell. I wanted to put him in my pocket!). He is one of the best dancers in the company too. Though, SPOILER, I thought his injury scene needed tightening up. It didn't have the WOOMPH factor it should.

Overall a satisfying recreation of a true classic. Still feels innovative after all these years. I know I"m leaving out performances, let me know if you'd like specifics.

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Updated On: 8/6/08 at 11:41 AM

GREAT review and good news about Nikki... although I didn't doubt her

I hope I get to see this.

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I saw it in LA twice! I love the show!!

I also thought Gabrielle Ruiz was amazing! I LOVE her 'Nothing'!

I didn't see her as Val, but when once the show was over and I read the playbill...I couldn't imagine her being Val. I thought she was a great Sheila!

Did we see the same show??? What area were you sitting at?

I saw the Tuesday night in Seattle also (I was on the far right loge, 3 rows back from the front), but I found the orchestra VERY overwhelming at times, especially for many of the solos. I haven't seen ACL before, and I haven't really listened to either cast recordings, so I'm not too familliar to the lyrics, so I feel like I missed a lot on what was sung (though the orchestra sounded good, too bad you can't see them!)

I really liked everyone, except for Nikki. I don't know, a lot of her acting scenes didn't really "ring true" to me, and I found her dancing during "The Music And the Mirror", though good, seemed to be just "doing the motions". I assume that this whole scene is about her love and passion for dancing and how it makes her feel, but I just didn't feel the passion from her.

Kevin Santos as Paul I felt did the best acting of the bunch, right up to the (SPOILER) injury sequence. It was kinda clumsily handled I thought and took me out of the moment (of course, I work in a local area hospital's x-ray department, and I know how people react and move with knee injuries, so I guess I'm a little jaded).

Gabrielle as Diana did have a really good voice (that almost got past the orchestra). Though from where I sat, she had this Sarah Silverman look to her, so for the rest of the night, I kept on imagining Sarah Silverman in the role. LOL!!!

Val (Natalie Elise Hall) was pretty funny, but I hated her voice for some reason. Nails on chalkboard!

And DAMN, John Carroll (Larry) is all arms!!! He looked bigger than both Mario Lopez and Nick Adams!!!

I also thought it was a little funny that from where I sat, Colt Prattes (Al) looked like a dead ringer for Tony Yazbeck.

I noticed a slight bit of sloppiness during the "One" finale, but nothing too serious (one of them was when they were getting into the circle formation, Michael Gruber seemed like he missed one step, and had this look of exasperation on his face for a split second, but everyone recovered nicely).

It was a pretty good evening. Didn't blow me away as being the most mind-boggling best thing (but I guess I never saw the original broadway cast back in the 70's, when it was mind-boggling), but a pretty good show, and I'm glad I at least finally got to see it. I don't know if I would have payed full price for my ticket again (they seemed pretty expensive, after all the fees and charges were tacked on, it was $93!).

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I saw the show in Seattle last night and wanted to compare it to the original I saw at the Shubert over 30 years ago. The low points, or rather, the lowest point: Gabrielle Ruiz vs the orchestra in "Nothing". Her singing and acting aren't in the same league as Priscilla Lopez and the orchestra was incredibly too loud. During the second lowest point, her singing of "What I Did for Love", her off-tone voice made my body shiver. It was that painfully bad. Anthony Wayne's Ritchie can't touch Ronald Dennis. It didn't help to have the orchestra drown him out. Another low point was the dancing of Nikki Snelson, who is nothing like Donna McKechnie, was fine otherwise, but in "The Music & the Mirror" looked like her shoes were too heavy. Her acting and beauty make me think she still has a great future and I'd love to see her in other shows.

On the bright side, Kevin Santos was excellent as Paul. Pilar Millhollen's rich voice made me wish her Bebe had more lyrics to sing. In the original, Don Percassi as Al actually couldn't sing as well as Renee Baughman as Kristine and the "Sing!" number didn't work. Colt Prattes and Jesssica Latshaw made a much better couple and their duet worked much better than the original to the point that it was a highlight rather than a low point. Natalie Elise Hall has a face that would always rate a ten for looks so it was a stretch to believe she'd get "Dance Ten, Looks Three". Her vamping and over-the-top playing of Val was a blast. Her squeaky voice, which worked for me in this part, could present a problem in others [check the reviews from other cities]. But, she brought so much fun to the role of Val (as opposed to the more dour version Pamela Blair played 30 years ago) that I'll be following her career. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the wonder dancing Clyde Alves did as Mike in "I Can Do That"!

After 30 years, some of the dialogue has lost its shock and the racial mix of the audition line would probably be different, but the stories still ring true and you still feel for the characters. It's also nice to see such a simple set as opposed to the extravagances of Young Frankenstein.

Glad someone finally mentioned Pilar Milhollen in this company. As with the original cast, people tend to focus on "the big six" and give the rest of the cast short shrift. Milhollen really brings a tremendous presence to Bebe. Watching her reactions during Dance Ten is as funny as watching Val do the number. Great voice in Ballet, some other very brief funny moments throughout. Very touching performance. Agree that Prattes and Latshaw make a terrific couple. This based on two viewings in LA.

GREAT review Sorry I missed it earlier.

Thank you.

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d'Amboise's Cassie was not bland at all.

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I'm so excited to see this in a couple of weeks!
I'll post a review after I see it.

Bumping- the tour opened in Boston tonight, any reviews?

And also- Jessica Latshaw (Kristine) has a blog that I am now *completely* addicted to:
http://thislifeinwriting.blogspot.com/
There are a lot of the life of a performer, life on tour type stories (traveling, falling onstage, stage door encounters, pre-show routines, etc.) that are just fun to read, for those who have ever wondered about this kind of thing. And her writing is quite hilarious. I'm slowly working my way thru reading all of the back entries (the photo of the San Diego stop marquee is priceless), but just wanted to share this for anyone else who might wanna take a read...

I saw A Chorus Line on Sunday at the Gammage Auditorium in Tempe, Arizona.

The battle between the orchestra and the singers got old after a while...and I know part of the problem is the Gammage just has sucky sound, but still, I don't think it would have killed anyone to tell the trap-set to shut up once in a while.

I felt the overall show to be passionless and, well...staged. There was nothing spontaneous, exciting, or touching about it. I couldn't decide if Natalie Elise Hall was trying to sound like Bernadette Peters or what, "Nothing" seemed...eh, and when Cassie responded to the director's "No!" BEFORE he said it, I was completely turned off. I realize it was Sunday night and if you spend an entire week in Arizona, your bound to be tired and sick of the place by the end, but...come on.

Overall, I was disappointed.

Anakela, I will be seeing it tonight in Boston. Along with another BWM, we will let you know. I'm really looking forward to it. The last time was the orginal production in 1978.