Every Little Step on DVD (musical DVDs in general): Wasted Opportunity- Page 2

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 6:08pm

Isn't being an overachiever a good thing if you're a Broadway actor?

[ACL2006]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 6:12pm

Rachelle didn't have "it" at the final callback. Deidre did, that's why she got cast. yes, in the original Sheila callback, Rachelle was better, but she bombed at the final callback.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 6:26pm

Yes, seeing the contrast between the days only reinforces how it really can just depend on the day of the week and how when panic sets in, you can be your own worst enemy.

It was nice seeing Goldyn's journey, between the production and the documentary from potential understudy, to Val and Cassie cover, to FANTASTIC Cassie.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 6:37pm

And an update on everyone's favorite love-to-hate-him, Tyce Diorio: he is co-choreographing Cher's new tour which premieres at Caeser's Palace next year, apparently it opens with his big directorial sequence which is an homage to movie musicals. I'm sure ACL won't be one of them!

P

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 6:43pm

Cher's latest act of charity.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 6:54pm

I wonder if Tyce (or as my sister calls him, after Nigel's British accent "Tasty Oreo") got that gig partly cuz Cher's usual choreographer (well for all her tours since the 80s) the lovely Doriana Sanchez choreographs the disco routines on So You Think You Can Dance, and they met that way? I always disliked the man--from So You Think You Can Dance anyway his Broadway routines are nearly always take a well known classic routine (Steam Heat, say) and then do a vastly inferior new version of it...

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 6:57pm

To belatedly answer your question, Pgenre, you might find the extras worth it, but probably not the commentary, done by the directors and Hamlisch. Given what you've said, it might be worth it for you to rent for them, but not buy.

"It was nice seeing Goldyn's journey, between the production and the documentary from potential understudy, to Val and Cassie cover, to FANTASTIC Cassie".

She made a fine Val, but was really miscast as Cassie. Much too young, for starters. They were forced to change the line "Seventeen years in the business and I flunk toilet paper squeezing" to "All these years..." because she was, after all, only twenty. I also found her MatM way too showy, flinging her hair around like a stripper. Instead of seeing Cassie, I saw Ms Goldyn trying to impress, and even though half her age, she was never able to reproduce Ms d'Amboise's backbend. I never did understand why she got so much screen time in ELS.
Updated On: 11/10/09 at 06:57 PM

[Daniel2]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 7:40pm

As far as the actresses having "it" (whatever that means) or not--if I were the actor or actress auditioning and the auditioners told me to do what I did 6 months earlier I would have lost "it" too. I think it's too bad because, while I thought Diedre obviously gave a good audition I didn't think she was very good in the show.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 7:52pm

Goodwin peaked at her callback, Rak had an off day. That's showbiz, but unfortunate, because I think Rak ultimately would have been a better Sheila than Goodwin was in performance.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 8:04pm

PGENRE -- sweets... Cher is NOT on tour nor will be. Since 2008, her show CHER AT THE COLOSSEUM has been a fixture at The Colosseum at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. To keep the show fresh, she reinvents the entire show after each hiatus. In April 2010 she begins the 3rd return of her Vegas show... this one features the work of Tyce Diorio. She has a 3 year commitment to The Colosseum in Las Vegas.

She retired from touring when her FAREWELL finally ended (after an enormously successful 3 year run) in May 2005.

NOTE: a tour travels to various cities -- her Vegas show never leaves The Colosseum in Las Vegas.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 8:12pm

Not to turn this into a Cher thread but:

"To keep the show fresh, she reinvents the entire show after each hiatus. In April 2010 she begins the 3rd return of her Vegas show... this one features the work of Tyce Diorio. She has a 3 year commitment to The Colosseum in Las Vegas"

That made me laugh. Anyone, even her most die hard fans (and don't get me wrong, I like Cher, have seen her a number of times live) would have to admit her tours and her Vegas show are anything but fresh. She's basically been doing the Believe tour/staging with small changes since 1999 and her Vegas production in its last hiatus virtually changed nothing (I think one number was changed) before its re opening. I suspect this will be the same.

[Trish2]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 10:40pm

Unfortunately, it's Tyce Diorio, " Emmy Award winner" that truly makes me gag.

But back to the documentary..

It's actually very telling regarding the audition process for the show that was revealed in the documentary. The very fact that the casting was done months apart, roles cast early on,etc., that contributed to the underwhelming final product.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 10:51pm

I think Rak is incredibly talented and I think the documentary worked to make her look foolish. I think alot of what was shown of her was taken out of context and yes I think it is difficult to produce something you did six months ago. However, instead of really framing the insanity of that, it really seemed to accent more the idea that Rak couldn't "be on and produce", as though she was not talented enough. Also, they made her asking for an answer about if she got the part look like a diva tirade and not just the sheer mental exhaustion of the process.

I agree with a previous poster that Rak would have delivered a far more compelling Sheila than Goodwin, who in my eyes was a flat bore.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 10:58pm

"Jason's call-back is brilliant. The entire creative team is in tears after his audition. He was so wonderful....so touching, panicked, innocent and real. Amazing!"

Really? That, too me, was the exact moment the Broadway revival stumbled and fell. I don't recall anybody but the senior citizen queens on the creative team crying and it was at that point I realized they were absolutely wedded to Nicholas Dante's self-loathing gay-as-victim thing.

As for Charlotte, the role requires a triple threat and at best she was a 1.75 threat.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 11/10/09 at 11:03pm

I thought Jason's audition was a little forced myself and from what I understand he had trouble reproducing that on-stage. What I saw in the documentary was nothing like what he did when I saw the revival. Not even close. A brief constipated look, but no tears and very little depth.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 8:25am

To answer the original question, I would imagine that they didn't include original cast TV promos & such because it had nothing to do with the film itself. The documentary EVERY LITTLE STEP was about casting a revival of a well-known show. It was not about A CHORUS LINE (although it included information about it). It was not about Michael Bennet (although it included information about him). It was a film about casting a show.

Now if there were ever a documentary about A CHORUS LINE, how the show was created, how it was received, how it became historic and a longest-running show, etc. -- then you'd bet it would be on there (if the Estate permits)!

There isn't a large enough audience that would buy such DVDs. Educational & Public Television is the best bet. The ARTS channel produced their own documentary on Hal Prince which aired two months ago. Why not a doc about a show? Or Michael Bennett? It's not far-fetched.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 9:46am

Charlotte's Cassie wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I didn't really dislike her, except for the way she sang words that ended in an "ooo" sound. I also liked Goodwin's Sheila. I was sad that Tony Yazbeck was out the day I saw it. I wanted to see him live in person.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 9:49am

Tony Yazbeck live in person is so magnetic it makes me want to go to White Christmas. Again.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 10:03am

He's understudy was cute, but I wanted to see him. I liked the guy playing Gregory Gardner, though.

[nealb1]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 11:15am

I saw the revival 3 times. Each time, Jason stopped the show with massive applause and cheering after his monologue. The creative team of "A Chorus Line" has seen and heard that monologue a billion times throughout the years. For them to have reacted that way, obviously it moved them. And, he got the part. So, whatever Jason did, it did it right.

FindingNamo, who would you have cast as Cassie?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 11:25am

What I think is compelling about the storytelling of the documentary is that they present the idea that the ultimate casting decisions are made based almost exclusively on the performances delivered on 'final call back day.' Perhaps this is because the show itself A CHORUS LINE kind of presents this mythology as how the business works (your future decided on the line in a single day) or perhaps thats really how the creative team on this project operated.

I'm one of the few people that thinks Rak comes off actually really tough and likable in this documentary. Her guts and charisma as a show biz survivor are more the spirit of A CHORUS LINE than anybody else we see in the piece. That she has been around long enough to be able to go to the casting director and ask point blank "Did I get the role" I think turned some people off or made them view her as bitchy, but to me its a really important wonderful detail of the film - and shows that Broadway is actually a community and that there are long standing relationships that are made and forged over time - its not all decided in a day...

But aside from Rak (who the film seems pointed to make you believe didn't get the role because she had an off audition at the callback) the film definitely shows Charlotte off in a good light - as having definitely delivered the strongest audition singing, acting and dancing wise on callback day. Again this idea that the "call back" day is all that ultimately counted. Ditto Jessica Lee Goldyn.

[nealb1]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 11:34am

Well said, Michael. You are absolutely right about Rak. She has been around long enough to ask DID I GET THE JOB?

At the end of the documentary, you see her sticking her head out of the stage door, in costume, of a Broadway theatre. What show did she get cast in?

[Tom1071]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 11:42am

"But they did interview many OBC members who weren't used in the documentary. The bad blood isn't speculation, it's common knowledge. They used the interviews that showed Bennett in a favorable light."

Wasn't Bennett notorious for showing up unbeknownst to the cast members and immediately going backstage after the show and firing people if he saw something he didn't like?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 11:47am

Yes Tom, he did all kinds of things like. He was a very selfish complicated man. And I'm not saying bad blood doesn't exist. But I think its a testament to the power of A CHORUS LINE (or perhaps to Bennett's ability to mind ****) that pretty much everyone involved with the original production has spoken about it in some way or form cooperatively since his death.

So I find it hard to believe that bad blood would at this point be the reason for anyone choosing to not participate in the documentary. There of course could be other reasons tied to ego (money, screen time, etc.). But I think most of the dancers who were a part of that original company have long since made their piece with Michael Bennett and his manipulation of them.

[morosco]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 11:53am

It was neat to see the Tony Award Winning Wardrobe Supervisor Extraordinaire Alyce Gilbert sitting behind the creative team at the San Fran callbacks.

By the way here's a fascinating interview with Alyce. She talks about the backstage world and mentions several of the shows she's been Production Wardrobe Supervisor for (including CHORUS LINE, DREAMGIRLS, WICKED, WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, KISS ME KATE, etc., etc., etc.)
Alyce Gilbert video interview