Is this "A Chorus Line" anecdote true?

Bizarre. It seems like we would have heard this before- I mean, walking off in the midst of a show is almost as bad as being seen outside the stage door smoking in costume.

Oh, I didn't realize she didn't go to LA.

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From the horse's mouth. ;-}

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I think in the original production there was a plan of action if someone was injured and couldn't finish the show. Certain lines would be assigned to certain others.

I should add that I've known a few OBC members from A Chorus Line over the years. Some of them went through a very tough time acclimating after the show became such a mega-hit and they became recognized and associated with it as individual actors. Many of them had trouble adjusting emotionally to career downturns or the idea that this musical wasn't going to bounce them to "principle actor" either on stage or in Hollywood.

A lot of that frustration and anger was aimed at Michael Bennett, and I have to say that much of it wasn't justified.

Bennett didn't hate these dancers, and he wasn't out to screw them over or "get" them. They all got much better deals than any dancer or performer ever would in another show. Even if they didn't get a major piece of the pie. They didn't write or create A Chorus Line. None of it. Bennett and the creative team did. The dancers talked into a tape recorder. They were interviewed, but they didn't make the "art" out of these interviews. They didn't shape it into a musical.

I actually found it kind of sad. But it's a rare circumstance, and none of them (Bennett or the dancers) were prepared for how to deal with the success, either from a business standpoint or an emotional one.

I think ultimately he was fair with them, but I also think he was harsh. Feelings got in the way many times. It was his show. That's the bottom line.

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Back to the anecdote--I can't really believe that Bishop would have been asked to participate in the CHORUS LINE reunion show if this had actually happened.

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As far as onstage injuries--Bebe Neuwirth spoke in an interview about a time when she was swinging in CHORUS LINE, and the actress playing Cassie injured her foot during the opening number. When the cast backed up to the mirrors during the intro to "At the Ballet", Cassie inched off the stage in a sideways crab-walk, and Neuwirth inched out to take her place in the line. The show continued as scripted.

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Well, Von Trap wrote a book that was sold to a German motion picture company; R&H rebought her book AND the rights to the German motion picture, so Maria got paid twice. I'd say she got the better slice of the pie by a long shot.

The level of drama and psychodrama among the members of not only the first cast, but the casts of the first 5 or so years was ridiculously high. It really WAS like a family--with all the dysfunctions.

I had two ex-bfs and lots of acquaintances appearing the early national tours who were promoted up to the Broadway show. They lived in fear of Michael coming to see the show and firing everyone the next day--a manipulative trick he inherited from Jerry Robbins.

I had never heard that story, but it's similar to the level of passion that existed with that show, pretty much up until Michael died.

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Since we're talking changed stories, check out that Anna Leonowens chick. "The King & I" Snort! More like "The King and 20 teachers" (the king had 39 wives and 89 children, all of whom were to get a western education.).

And btw, Maria von Trapp got a walk-by role in the move The Sound of Music

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Wait--you mean there was no "Tom"?

When I think of Tom.
I think of a night,
When the earth smelled of summer
And the sky was streaked with white,
And the soft mist of England
Was sleeping on a hill.

I remember this,
And I always will...

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According to On the Line, Thommie Walsh, Wayne Cilento, Cameron Mason, Clive Clerk and Kelly Bishop were the only ones who stayed in New York.