Interactive A Chorus Line

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 1:14pm

I know this is totally against what Michael Bennett ever wanted, but wouldn't it be interesting if the audience could pick the dancers in A Chorus Line? ala Mystery of Edwin Drood?

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 2:06pm

What an age we live in!

*sigh*

I guess I'm tired of the audience wanting to be part of the show all the time. It seems to be the way things are, now. It reminds me of Fahrenheit 411, where Linda is watching a show on television, and suddenly (on screen) a character turns to her in her living room and ask her, "And what do YOU think about this, Linda?"

It was creepy to me then, and it's creepy to me now.

Audiences have forgotten how to be audiences. I don't know if it's egos that have gotten bigger, or if it's general sensory overload, or A.D.D., or lack of social skills, or something else (or all of the above?). But the discipline of simply being an audience is becoming more obsolete each year. People actually clap, shout, give compulsive standing ovations, etc., in order to feel that they are a part of the action now, instead of simply to honor and support a good performance.

I actually work in the area of home entertainment and help design and create interactive features with the studios for DVD/Blu-ray/HD-DVD/UMD. So you might be surprised that these comments are coming from someone like me. I know this is the "wave of the future," and I'm embracing it on a daily basis in earnest… but as George's mother said to him in Sunday in the Park…

…how I long for the old view.

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 2:16pm

*wrinkles nose*

No. And if they were to use a gimmick like that... I think I might cry. And that's the end of my childish reaction to audience participation in this specific show.

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 2:20pm

Amen best12bars. I agree with you.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 2:24pm

Whether it's a good idea or not(and I don't think it is), I'm not sure logistically how you could do it. It's a two hour show with no intermission. When and how would you poll the audience? Bring up the lights right after "What I Did For Love" and have a show of hands for each character (which would probably take a half an hour). Spotlight each character on the line and have the audience applaud for their favorites and let the ending be determined by an applause meter? Have little electronic devices on the back of every seat and have the audience record their votes that way? Anyway you might try it, it would bring the show to a grinding halt while the votes were tabulated.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 2:27pm

I don't think it's a good idea and it is likely to hurt a lot of the dancers' feelings. But I do wish they went back to choosing a different dancer every night like it was during the Off-Broadway run of the show, no one knew who was going to get picked each night and from what I understand Bennett would pass the notes to Mr.LuPone according to whoever he thought had given a good performance that night. I think Neil Simon's wife told him that this didn't work.