BREAKING NEWS: A CHORUS LINE RETURNS TO BROADWAY 2006 — Page 2

1) When are tickets going on sale? Should I start applying for AmEx Gold Cards now?

2) Will there be a lottery?

3) How bad are the obstructed views in the theater that hasn't been chosen yet?

4) What merchandise will they be selling? I would request the cafe au lait colored t-shirt with the brown logo that I bought back in Year One (because the history of Broadway can be divided into three eras in my very humble opinion: Before A Chorus Line, After A Chorus Line, and A Chorus Line) but eventually ruined.

5) Sean Hayes for Paul! (Kidding.)


6) When will the revival cast recording be released? Will it include "And..."?

7) Will they do the thing they did in the first year of the run at the Shubert and have postcards available that say "Dear______, I just saw A Chorus Line at the Shubert and [then it was blank]"? Max Racks didn't invent that sort of marketing.

8 ) Sean Hayes for Mike! (Kidding.)

9) Do you think everybody will sign at the stage door?

10) Looks: 3

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Updated On: 1/12/05 at 11:21 AM

Shut up shut up SHUT UP. The timelessness of its themes transcend the speficicity of its setting. I GUESS if it had been set in a mythical land and the language was peppered with MADE UP WORDS the show would be an epic for all time. Believe me 16 years after Wicked closes, there will be no excitement at all over the prospects of a revival. None.

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Ga - I WISH it were too dated! The sad truth is that in today's atmosphere its message is probably needed more than ever.

DGrant and Namo,

I guess what I mean by dated is that it's pre-AIDS, and was mounted in a time where coming out was a uniformly scary experience.

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Bump for Dame.

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LOL. With that avatar, I loved that.
And I love Helen L.

Sueleen,

I'm someone who saw it several times during my "formative years," and then went back as an adult and you know what? It totally blew me away in ways it hadn't when I was younger.

I took a couple of friends (younger theatre professionals) to see the revival that Papermill did about three (?) years ago, with Baayork Lee recreating the original Bennett staging. I was once again struck how much of a marvel of construction the whole thing is, how the music and lyrics and book and dancing and staging and lighting all fit tightly together into a cohesive whole -- it's the most fully integrated musical ever created.

And as for feeling trite and contrived -- just the opposite. The rawness and vulnerability and pain of those stories still resonate as fully as they ever did (both my friends and the other people around us were positively weeping by the end of Paul's monologue). Not only did my friends not find it dated, they expressed to me that it still seemed to be completely ahead of its time -- the richness of the storytelling and the economy of the staging were still remarkable. Both friends (one an award-winning director, the other an actor) told me afterwards that they thought the show far surpassed every show playing in New York at that time (and they had seen everything). And I agree. A Chorus Line more than holds up very, very well and fully deserves it's status as a masterpiece and a landmark in the history of the American theatre.

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Just keep in mind D, the mind is capable of some amazing tricks. Nothing is really exactly as we remember it. Hope you're not disappointed in the revival.

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Margo, I am glad to hear that it still holds up for you both as a musical and emotional voyage. Like I said, I don't hate it and certainly don't hold it against anyone who adores it, but it just didn't do it for me. I am not a basher, just not a HUGE fan.

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The only stunt casting I could see or want them to do would be having some of the originals come back.

Can Priscilla Lopez still kick?

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"I have never been a huge fan of shows about actors/theatre. I think it is lazy ..."

I usually am so on board with that Sueleen. And the same goes for books about writers, movies about moviemakers, rock songs about how hard life is on the road. It USUALLY reeks of creators who have not chewed their cud very well.

On the other hand, just about everything in ACL is a metaphor for the entire life experience. From birth to death. I've seen productions from Broadway to tour to regional to community. And every time, two things happen. My body gets COVERED in goosebumps when the line forms for the first time and the 8x10s are up in front of their faces and I also realize how the material is so strong that even if the performance levels are scattered, it still shines. That's why a return to Broadway-level standards excites me no end.

And I often feel the same way about "oh, another revival." Just not this one. Best. Musical. Ever.

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Margo,

I guess so. I'm not old enough to have seen the show on Broadway, but I was underwhelmed by the movie. I guess my reation to Paul story was, "Yeah, guess what? Me too. And mine was a lot worse." ::shrugs:: I wish this production well, anyway, and will see it.

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