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Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

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#1

Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/14/05 at 7:14pm

I feel as though A Chorus Line would be very effective as a play. The true meaning and value could be kept if it were made into a non-musical. Could anyone see this happening? Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE the music and was in a producton myself, I was just thinking about how the integrity could be maintained if the show was reworked into a play.
#2

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/14/05 at 7:18pm

i dunno... i think it could work and be just as effective but... i mean, c'mon... who DOESN'T love the Montage!?

plus- the music adds a whole different demension and i think the play would suffer without it
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed

Updated On: 10/14/05 at 07:18 PM

#4

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/14/05 at 7:19pm

Not really I don't think because....there wouldn't be any Chorus Line....
"It's a great feeling of power to be naked in front of people. We're happy to watch actual incredible graphic violence and gore, but as soon as somebody's naked it seems like the public goes a bit bananas about the whole thing."
#5

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/14/05 at 7:25pm

I agree with Sally and newsie.
"forget regret <3, I love your post.....you give me hope for the next generation!" -Elphaba
#6

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/14/05 at 7:26pm

but than again what's the point of a play about CHORUS MEMBERS without music!?

so... i'm divided. one side tells me, YES, it could work but the other side punches the one side that says yes and tells it to shut its little liberal mouth.
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
#7

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/14/05 at 7:47pm

I think it'd be pretty darn cool if there was a play about chous members! Very nifty.
I get lost, unless, of course, I'm getting found.
#8

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/14/05 at 7:51pm

So, essentially, it would just be a line of seventeen people stepping forward, telling a story, and stepping back?

I almost fell asleep just typing that sentence.
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
#9

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/14/05 at 7:56pm

Lots of people talking..hmm...well, Twelve Angry Men was good. And lots of people liked "My Dinner with Andre". And what about documentaries? Still, I'm not so sure.
Be a BE*liever! Feel the electricity!
#10

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/14/05 at 8:00pm

Well, if there's no music, why call it "A Chorus Line"?. Call it "The Ensemble" and it can be about supporting actors. My problem in dropping the music is you end up having a show about musical performers but with no music you also have no dancing and do you now put the lyrics,which were so personal,into the narrative? Now "Gypsy" if expanded, I wouldn't mind seeing as a straight play. For Louise's strip all you'd need is a drummer.
#11

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/14/05 at 9:44pm

Never mind
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey

Updated On: 10/14/05 at 09:44 PM

#12

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 12:31am

A Chorus Line as a play... Hmmm... I only saw the movie, but I think that if it was a straight play, it would be really boring.
MARGARET: "Clara, stop that. That's illegal." - The Light in the Piazza

"I'm not in Bambi and I'm not blonde!" - Idina Menzel
#13

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 12:38am

Well, NEVER judge A Chorus Line from the movie. They are two completely different things.
#14

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 12:42am

I want to see "The Music and the Mirror" performed without music.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#16

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 1:02am

See I really couldn't
Talk
I could never really Talk
What I couldn't do was... TALK!!!
PEACE.
#18

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 1:08am

Ummmmmm..........hell no, its called A C H O R U S lineand its about dance. I understand that idea, but without the dance, id be friggin lame.
#19

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 3:32pm

no, it would be dreadful and dull as a play.
"Blow out the candles Robert and make a wish. Want something, want SOMETHING."
#20

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 4:13pm

I think a play about actors at a single audition MIGHT work, if it was extremely well-written and conceived... but I couldn't see it be a literal, non-musical adaptation of A CHORUS LINE.

If you're trying out for a play, you don't stand in a room, in a group, where everyone reads their monologues at once, and a director picks the 8 or so members of the company in the end. It would have to be an entirely different experience. Then again, seeing actors file in, one by one, reading monologues and talking about themselves would very likely feel disjointed and uneven. There would be no shared connection on stage, only off.

It would be a challenge.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#21

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 4:30pm

It could work, obviously there would be some changes to. Let me put it a different way, A Chorus Line the musical might not work as a play. However, a play in the tradition of Chorus Line, with actors auditioning for a play and sharing their hopes, dream, and pasts would work.
#22

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 5:29pm

I saw a Summer camp version of A Chorus Line where they obviously took out a lot of the language, sexual references, etc. meaning they edited literally half the show. And it worked.

Yes...A Chorus Line could work as a play with careful editing. If you think about it, it was already a play before it even got the musical treatment. It's a series of stories and interviews. The music in the show was just additional.
#23

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 5:56pm

But it's a musical show about dancers. I don't think you can take the music and songs away and just watch the original characters sitting around talking into tape recorders.

They're at a musical audition for a musical.

It's kinda like doing "Jaws" without the water.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#24

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 8:01pm

I don't think they could. The whole purpose of a chorus line is for the dancers to express themselves and their lives passionatley by song. Do you think "at the ballet" would be any good without song?
Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?
no stealing!
#25

re: Could A Chorus Line Work As A Play?

Posted: 10/15/05 at 8:14pm

It certainly would be short!

"What do you do when you can't stand up anymore?"

"Jesus, you're kidding, right? I mean, this is what we do. Standing and talking."
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