BREAKING NEWS: A CHORUS LINE RETURNS TO BROADWAY 2006- Page 3

[junglered]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:07pm

A Chorus Line made a huge impression on me when I was a youngster in the 70s. It was my Father's favorite musical of all time, also. The show was so poignant and has themes that are, yes, timeless. I wore out my OBC vinyl recording of ACL years ago. "One" is 'one' of the greatest and most moving show finales of all time.

I do hope that the producers stay true to the original show. If so, I predict great success for the revival. I'm glad that a new generation of folks will be re-introduced to this classic piece of theatre. Updated On: 1/12/05 at 01:07 PM

[seasons of love]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:10pm

*jumping up and down in excitement*

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:13pm

GalIsSilent,

The movie is TERRIBLE! A total bastardization of the show and a waste of celluloid. If you've only seen that and never seen the original show in a professional production, then be prepared to be knocked out when the revival opens.

[pab]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:30pm

I really don't understand this business about "A Chorus Line" being "dated". EVERY revival is "dated". A show takes place at a particular time and it's usually stated, either in the program or during the play, what that time is.

Are we not to see shows that were written before the 80s or 90s or that take place during a time before that? If that is the case then 90% of what's playing on Broadway right now should close.

As for the movie version of "A Chorus Line" it was not just a bad transfer of a stage musical to a movie it was just a bad movie all around. I look forward to seeing this revival. If it's only 50% as good as the original it would still be better then some the crap that on Broadway right now.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:31pm

Wow I'm so excited. I'm too young to have ever seen this show on Broadway I think (when did it close)? But I know a lot of the music and hopefully will be in NY then. Yay for ACL!!!

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:43pm

All I'm saying is that I hope those who remember the original production fondly, and those too young to have ever seen it, but have heard countless stories over the years about it's greatness, aren't disappointed in the revival. I'm in a relationship with someone 20 years my junior. I've tried countless times to introduce him to shows and movies that I fell in love with way back when. It hasn't worked yet. The reason a show resonates with someone has so much to do with the time, the place, the setting, who you were with, what's going on in the world and in your life at the time, etc., etc. And then you spend years romanticizing it, and waxing sentimental over it. I've yet to see a revival of a show that I LOVED, I mean really LOVED, that I wasn't disappointed in. On the other hand, I've seen revivials of shows that I was luke warm about the first time around, that seemed to improve. And a few that even blew me away.

Updated On: 1/12/05 at 01:43 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:47pm

To better understand the love for this show and to get an amazing
glimpse into theater and the birth of "workshopping" a show, "On The Line" is a must-read book, written by the original cast. They have a lot to say and hold no punches. All the highlights and, even more fascinating, the low-points of A Chorus Line's production process. Lots of dirt and honesty.

Also good is "What They Did For Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of A Chorus Line."

Plus,"The Longest Line" has lots of great photos.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:51pm

I have to admit I'm still a little fuzzy on the 'dated' aspect of this show. Dancers still do cattle-call auditions, which can also be recognized by anyone universally who has had to 'put themselves on the line'. As Margo said, young people do still have to come out of the closet when it's not necessarily easy (and Ga, if your empathy is based on how someone's experience stacks up against yours like some kind of competition, then you don't have any.) People still have to deal with rejection and the loss of dreams. People still get plastic surgery to try to make it in the biz - even more so now. And the Rockettes still exist.

[sipos]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:52pm

I just envisioned Betty S. from SUNSET BOULEVARD walking in here and saying, "It's just a rehash of something that wasn't very good to begin with."

And Joe shooting her, ending the story in scene 1

[midtowngym]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:24pm

I fondly remember the original production. However, i'm hardly pleased. Why not find a NEW story that tells of a dancers pain? And even if it's a similar story, aren't there a million different ways to tell it? How disappointing. Fiddler, Sweet Charity, 12 Angry Men, A Normal Heart, Reckless, HurlyBurly, La Cage, A Chorus Line, blah, blah, blah.
My theater-going feels a lot like deja vu lately.

Signed,
Cranky Middie

Updated On: 1/12/05 at 02:24 PM

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:25pm

"I have to admit I'm still a little fuzzy on the 'dated' aspect of this show."

Yes, young people still struggle with their sexuality and with coming out, and yes, performers are still dealing with the pressures of aging. But those subjects, and others, were new to Broadway audiences when they were first explored in A Chorus Line back in the 70's. They're not anymore. That's what I mean by dated. Is LA CAGE AUX FOLLES dated? I think it is. And so did my partner when he saw it with me for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It's been done. Are gay people still oppressed and in many ways treated like second-class citizens? Of course. But in the age of Will and Grace, Sex and the City, Queer as Folk, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, etc. etc., these issues are no longer novel. I fell in love with the character of Paul in A Chorus Line, when I first saw the show. I was 15 or 16 at the time and had never seen a character in a show, movie, or on television that I could relate to as much. But I doubt his story will have the same impact on the majority of young people, gay or otherwise, who see it today. But of course, those of us who were moved by it "way back when" will wax sentimental and recall how it made us feel to finally be acknowledged, and it will no doubt still bring a tear to the eye.

Updated On: 1/12/05 at 02:25 PM

[pab]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:40pm

CurtainUp2, I fully understand your point but Paul and coming out but it is only one segment of the show. The majority of the show deals with the struggle of artists (singers, actors and dancers) and their quest to overcome whatever obstacles they face in life that keep them from their dream which is something that many people can relate to today. A bad singing voice or a not so great body or numerous other things that the dancers in the show have to deal with. I know that the world has been exposed to so much and Paul's monologue might not have the same impact on some as it did in the 70s but I would think that some kids will be just as moved about his personal story as some kids were when the original show played.

midtowngym, I'm at a loss as to what we do with great playwrights like Miller, Williams etc. Do we not produce and more Athol Fugard plays because apartheid is now over? Is there no room for theatre that some audiences have not seen before? Yes, it would be great to have new plays all of the time but you and I both know that is not going to happen and that there are people out there that never saw "Fiddler, Sweet Charity, 12 Angry Men, A Normal Heart, Reckless, HurlyBurly, La Cage, A Chorus Line, blah, blah, blah."

[ElTico68]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:52pm

It is dated? YES! It's a snapshot at what being a B'way gypsy in 1975 was like. That's the important part of it. The fact that most of the issues we can still relate is awesome. And about Paul, in the age of Will & Grace, Queer Eye, QAF, I would hope that Paul's monologue would give young gay men (and women) an appreciation for the past 30 years and how much we have progressed. That's what a period piece does. (OMG... I just called ACL a period piece... MY PERIOD!)

However, I would LOVE to see someone tackle it and update the whole thing... update the stories, maybe make the Cassie character male... someone who's HIV+, someone (maybe Sheila) be transgender. It would be interesting, to say the least.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 3:04pm

So what do we think? Melanie Grifith as Cassie? Wayne Brady as a dancer? Brooke Sheilds as a dancer? What about David Hasselhoff as the guy who sings, "I Can Do That?"

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 3:08pm

And Idina Menzel as who?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 3:23pm

The Paul story is hardly the only story in ACL. And in fact, it's not really very historically accurate. The people who got gigs in The Jewel Box Revue were treated like kings, or queens, if you will. It was the sort of thing that gay dancers LOVED to get cast in, like the way Les Ballets des Trockadero is today. But Paul's monologue calls it "a real freakshow" and was taken directly from the life of Nicholas Dante, infused with his own internalized homophobia.

The details of the story are much less important than the emotions it calls up using the feelings of a person who has always made an effort to blend in ("who am I anyway?"), and what it's like to be put on the spot("what should I try to be?"), asked to reveal himself to another person("what am I gonna say when he calls on me?"), and feeling as if he will be personally shattered if he does so ("I don't wanna talk about this. Why do I have to talk about this?").

It's about the immediate pain, informed by past trauma. It's Zach's heretofore unseen humane raction to what Paul says that makes the moment so powerful.

And Curtain, in my professional life I often get to hear from young gay people (calm down GG3, I hear from them, I don't touch them), and one thing I hear consistently is how much they resent hearing from older people, even slightly older people, that they have it so much easier today.

Updated On: 1/12/05 at 03:23 PM

[midtowngym]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 3:30pm

Pab-- The great playwrights you mention are either dead or very old. What about NEW playwrights? I'm not referring to Shanley, Lucas, etc. They're middle aged. What about THEIR sucessors? Or will there be any? Even Jonathan Larson would be 40 by now, although he's eternally young.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 3:37pm

well, i think it's worth reviving just for the mere fact that its revival spawned this thread which is one of the most passionate and literate threads i'ver seen on the main board in quite some time. see folks, if they do good theatre or meaningful theatre on braodway, it will follow that we have interesting debates and thoughtful discussions here in broadwayworld.

i'm excited about this as my only recollection of the show was sitting in a college bar watching the closing festivities being covered on the news.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 3:39pm

It was the first professional theatre I saw - as a senior in high school, a chorus field trip (the only one ever) to see the National Tour in Boston.

And yeah, the movie is a travesty.

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 3:55pm

Can someone give me more info on what makes the movie such a travesty? Casting? Direction?

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 3:58pm

To go back a little-someone said that 15-30 year olds wont be able to relate to ACL now. As a 16 year old, I can tell you that this is one of my favorite shows of all time. I saw a production of it at a local theater a few years ago and fell in love with it. It is definetly an emotional rollercoaster-you laugh, you cry, you sit in amazement at the dancing going on on stage. The overall theme about the love of theater obviously hits close to home for me, and the smaller stories, like Paul's monologue, are so amazing and although my experiences aren't exactly like those that Paul went through, I can still relate to every word he says. I am so excited to finally see this show on Broadway(considering I was 2 when it closed). And the revival will introduce a whole new group of people to this truely incredible work of theater. I think the fact that it won the Pulitzer Prize shows how great it is. And the movie definetly doesnt do the show justice AT ALL.

[ElTico68]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 4:42pm

"Can someone give me more info on what makes the movie such a travesty? Casting? Direction?"

Yes... casting, direction, concept. Sir Dick decided to forgo any and all of Michael's original staging, which in itself is VERY cinematographic (he successfully used a lot of cinematographic techniques on stage). Some parts were awefully miscast. "What I Did For Love" is a love song from Cassie to Zach (blech!) whereas in the play is basically a love song from Morales to the theater/dance/performance (I can be not very eloquent at times... so I hope the points come across ok).

One of my biggest problems with the movie is the fact that in the play, you have these people on stage, and by the end, they're tired, sweaty, cranky, etc., where in the play it's all glossy and beautiful and they don't even have sweat stains. The feeling on having been at an audition for hours on end (we only see the last 2 hours of the audition in the play) is totally lost.

That's my opinion, in a nutshell.

They remake lots of old good movies, I don't know why someone doesn't remake a bad movie that should've and could've been amazing.

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 5:15pm

"And Curtain, in my professional life I often get to hear from young gay people..."

Well Namo... in my personal life, I live with one. And all I can tell you is that he and his friends don't relate the same to many of the things that moved and effected me in my younger days.

Updated On: 1/12/05 at 05:15 PM

[kim1061]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 5:24pm

ohhh i always wanted to see this! i can't wait i full dance show!

i hope they have audition coverage on this site. unles the auditions already happened.

[MaTakeALookAtMe]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 5:25pm

Yippee...you have a young lover...fantastic...

While certainly the novelty of gay issues has lessened, the emotions associated with coming out, relationships, etc certainly has resonance.

And I can trump the "I live with a young gay man" reasoning, as I AM a young gay man.