Chorus Line Revival

Bob Avian (Bennett's Tony winning co-choreogapher, close friend and co-executor of his estate) said in an interview a few months ago that he's planning to bring ACL back sometime in the next couple of seasons (2006? 2007?). No more details than that.

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Does that mean no J-Lo as Cassie?

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a revival would be great! that's a show i'd sure go to nyc to see

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I love the show, and a revival would be FANTASTIC!

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I LOVE this show. The first solo lines I ever sung on stage were the "Who am I anyway..." part of "I hope I get it"

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i'd be so thrilled. My teacher was the original London tits and ass girl and was the bway replacement. The character was based on her =D Her name is Mitzi Hamilton. God i wish I was in this show... yaeahhhah guffman.

When you sell the rights to a stage show to Hollywood, the director and producers of the film property have the right to do whatever they want to with the material -- rewrite it, restage it, heck toss half of it out if they want to ..... basically they can change and alter the material as they see fit and the original playwright, composer, book writer, director et al of the stage version have no ability whatsoever to stop them (they've gotten their check so afterwards all they can do is shut up and go away).

Stage revivals are a completely different matter. The playwright, book writer and composers are protected by the Dramatists Guild contract which prevents so much as a single word being changed without their approval (Bennett gets writer's royalties for both ACL and Dreamgirls, I believe). Beyond that, a small handful a very powerful super-director/choreographers -- Jerome Robbins (for several works), Bennett (for ACL and Dreamgirls), Fosse (for his later work) -- have it set down by contract that their original staging and choreography MUST be used for any major revival and their estates must be consulted regarding any changes the new production wants to make. The Robbins estate is especially powerful and protective about these things, forbidding Sam Mendes to make any significant changes to the original Robbins staging for the Bernadette Peters revival (and Jerry Mitchell had to recreate the original choreography verbatim). Robbins' original choreography is currently on display in the Fiddler on the Roof revival (as per the estate's instructions) and The West Side Story revival coming to Broadway in a couple of seasons will also simply recreate the Robbins' originals.

Similarly, the Bennett estate will ensure that his original work will be recreated exactly for any revival of ACL or Dreamgirls.

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One thing that could change for the better would be the costuming. Do we still have to perpetuate the idea that everyone must be a physical clone of the original cast? I saw a rehearsal room runthrough of the last Australian revival a few years ago...as Margo points out, a replica staging directed by Baayork Lee...and it was every bit as electrifying as it had been in 1975. Then when I saw it on opening night, with those original costumes and hairstyles imposed on the cast, every trace of individuality flew out the window and the whole thing just lay there. Incidentally, the production flopped, through no fault of the performers.

i don't think it's necessary to have it be an exact replica of the original where hairstyles and costuming are concerned. they could definitely be re-interpreted for a revival.

the original choreography/staging would definitely have to stay intact.

i don't know about musical arrangements though, alot of it is definitely out of the 1970s...especially parts of the "I HOPE I GET IT" dance sequence and "THE MUSIC AND THE MIRROR" are a bit disco-ish. but i guess those would work if it's presented as taking place in 1975 and not the present.

"Then when I saw it on opening night, with those original costumes and hairstyles imposed on the cast, every trace of individuality flew out the window and the whole thing just lay there."

Isn't that the point. A Chorus Line deals with the fact that every person who auditions for a show has exactly the same chances. All that they are is their resume.

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I'm sure Avian is going to give a lot of thought to the orchestrations, costuming, hair styles etc.... as well as the portions of the book where the characters announce their birthdates. During the original run, I believe there was an effort for a brief time (in the late 70s I think) to update the birthdays of each of the characters, but the show ran for so many years and trying to constantly keep the ages up to date quickly got so complicated that they decided to just set it in 1975 and keep it a historical piece. Now, however, it would probably be more than a little jarring to an audience in 2007 or whenever to hear some 27 year old performer stand on that line and say that they were born in 1948.

There's also the matter of (during Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen) of the references to childhood crushes on Troy Donahue and Robert Goulet etc... Do they try and update those references to similar male icons of the 1980s and 90s or would that be too odd? And what about the Red Shoes, which I would guess didn't have the same impact on young Broadway dancers today as it did on dancers in the 70s, who grew up in the 50s and 60s?

With Dante, Kleban and Kirkwood (not to mention Bennett) all having passed away at this point, I wonder how much Avian and his remaining team (Hamlisch, Baayork Lee, the designers et al) are willing to tweak and change the book and the rest of this landmark, Pulitzer-prize winning show?

It goes without saying that regardless of anything else, Bennett's staging and choreography will probably be recreated exactly -- it's brilliant and can't be improved upon. Same with Robin Wagner's scenic design and Tharon Musser's lights -- there's little reason to change them (and they're still around and can be consulted if changes are needed). But, the orchestrations could certainly be tweaked for the better (the original orchestrators Jonathan Tunick, Bill Beyers and Hershey Kay are all still around, I believe, as well as Hamlisch himself). Theoni V. Aldredge, the original costume designer, is still one of the busiest costumers in the business and I'm sure could be brought in to rethink her original designs for a more contemporary feel (if that's what they decide to go for). Updating the book as far as character ages and corresponding high school crushes is slightly more complicated, but frankly, it's a pretty small handful of lines that need to be changed (if Avian does decide to set the show in 2007).

It'll be interesting to see what, if any changes, take place with this revival.

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I agree with Margo, those few things(crushes, orchestrations, costumes) could all be easily changed without ruining the brilliant book.