Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/17
BentleyB said: "I remember when it came out and having seen ACL so many times before it did. I after the opening I wanted to throw something at the screen. When they decided to make “What I Did for Love” a love song I stood up and said to friends who went with me, “I will be in the car, this is trash” and left.
Oh, Mary! This post is just begging for a Jesse Tyler Ferguson dramatic reading.
ggersten said: "joevitus said: "Well, to be fair, "What I Did for Love" is clearly a song meant to sound like a love song. It was a push to get a hit (they got it), and it feels forced into its place onstage, so I'm not surprised they tried it as a love song in the move. Not to defend the movie (which is garbage) or criticize the stage show(which is genius), but that song is shoe-horned in,in a way none of the other numbers are."
Many years ago (like 1981 or so) I asked Hamlisch this exact question about the song feeling forced in. He said that he had to beg Bennett to leave "What I Did For Love" in the show for precisely thereason you stated. I recall he said that he told Bennett "You've got to let me have one hit". I may have the edited interview on a cassette tape somewhere.
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I can believe it. Would love to hear that tape.
Broadway Star Joined: 4/30/22
To me the sentiment of What I Did is entirely right for the show, but yes it does have a feeling of “well we gotta get this sentiment in here no matter what.”
I wonder if anyone from the team came up with something more seamless years later but never got to try putting it in.
It's the best Paul McCartney song that isn't.
CarlosAlberto said: "Here is some background info from the AFI website on ‘A Chorus Line’s” journey to the silver screen:
A Chorus Line - American Film Institute"
Thank you for posting this. I never knew all of that history behind the film's development. A fascinating read.
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