NEW CHORUS LINE LEADS ANNOUNCED — Page 2

D'Amboise! AHHHHH! *faints*

SO Can't wait for this. She'll be brilliant.

ugh! why dont they use unknowns for this show like they did originally???

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Beresse and D'Amboise are hardly high-profile, C&A. I think they're great choices and I'm looking forward to this production since it does seem some care is being taken in the casting.

this is SO FREAKING EXCITING!!! i am *so happy* for Charlotte (and honestly, i thought she was better than Christina in Charity).

Yeah I just called my mother (Chorus Line is her favorite show, she's quite excited)

I'd consider her fairly knowledgable about theater, but she lives in North Carolina. And she had NO idea who Charlotte was, even though I know she's seen her at some point.

Charlotte is hardly a huge broadway "name" - I'm quite excited for her!

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Good for Charlotte. She deserves it.

Also in the original Donna was playing a role that was based on herself and her relationship with Michael Bennet. I did FOLLIES with Donna at Paper Mill Playhouse some years ago and it was great to hear all the stories. I was the Musical Director for that FOLLIES production and she is a real sweetheart. I think Charlotte is a perfect choice for the role.

Wasn't Donna the inspiration for Maggie, not Cassie?

Congrats to both. I wish they wouldn't use the word "star" though. Or "billing." There are NO STARS in this show. They need to get familiar with the show they're promoting. It's not the (crappy) film we're talking about here.

With the original production of ACL, the Tony committee decided finally to break its rule of forbidding performers to be submitted for "leading" awards unless they were billed above the title. This is why you have people like Yul Brynner (as the King), Isabel Bigley (as Sarah Brown) and Barbara Cook (as Marian Paroo) winning the FEATURED acting awards for their work, instead of competing in the more appropriate leading categories. They were "featured" simply because their names weren't above the title. No other reason.

William Daniels in "1776" started kicking the controversy into high gear when he was nominated for FEATURED actor for playing the leading role of John Adams. He angrily refused the nomination and demanded they remove his name from consideration, which they did (to much embarrassment and bad press at the time). This was because 1776 listed its cast alphabetically... which is known as a "favored nations" billing. All performers, regardless of the size of the role, are billed alphabetically in a single group. That's why Daniels had received a "featured" nomination.

When A Chorus Line rolled around a few years later, they also used "favored nations" billing. But this time, the committee was asked to consider Donna McKechnie for a "leading" actress award. They did, and it was a "first." So, the rule changed once and for all, and now the category definition has very little to do with billing anymore.

Still a lot of people moaned and groaned that "Cassie" really ISN'T a leading role, regardless of billing. I would agree that it's more of an ensemble performance... albeit the most memorable one (thanks in no small part to Miss McKechnie's original interpretation of the part). But does "ensemble" mean leading or supporting? Food for thought.

And for anyone who thinks Cassie isn't a meaty, incredible part... you must not have seen the right actress play Cassie yet.

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Updated On: 1/27/06 at 10:37 AM

For the record: The Cassie-Zach is not based on Donna McKechnie's relationship with Michael Bennett, although she was his muse as a dancer. They did not become romatically involved until both were riding the Chorus Line wave -- and it was ill-starred at best. Chorus Line may have foreshadowed her relationship with Bennett, but McKechnie would never have returned to the chorus like Cassie -- she was far too established by the time she was in Chorus Line. The bits of her life that are in the show are Maggie (dancing around the living room) and Judy Turner (shaving her sister's head).

As far as it not being a lead role: McKechnie won the Tony over Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera in a leading category. (This is why the Tonies that year featured Jerry Orbach -- Fosse refused Alexander Cohen's request for a performance by Rivera or Verdon).

McKechnie was brilliant as Cassie in 1975 and when she returned in 1986 for six months she was even more poignant. D'Amboise will be stunning as well.

I would imagine that Donna McKechnie, alone, on the cover of Newsweek, greatly contributed to her being singled out for leading consideration.

This is very good news.

Very very good news.

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This really isn't going to work for me if Charlotte doesn't marry Bob Avian. Oh sure, she'd have to divorce Terrance Mann, on the grounds that he was in the Chorus Line movie. But it would be Broadway magic.

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