By Delia Paunescu

With modern Broadway productions being treated along the same lines as big-budget films, today’s musical audiences may feel as though something is missing. Gone are the days of organic productions where dancers in leotards graced the stage in a display of their talents. Everything now is over-styled, over-produced and overdone.

But “A Chorus Line,” a show originally produced in 1975 which went on to be the longest running show on Broadway is now in its revival. It tells the story of dancers who spend an afternoon auditioning for the chorus line of a Broadway production. However, aside from partnering, working with a hat and quickly learning the choreography, the dancers soon discover that the show’s producer has added a separate aspect to their try-out.

During the course of their interview, Zach (Michael Berresse) also asks personal questions, prompting the dancers to tell hidden and often uncomfortable stories from their past.

Being that the production uses show business as its backdrop, image issues are constantly raised. However, the show also insists on looking beneath the surface. The interviewees all mention very private experiences that would never otherwise be divulged. The audience gets a chance to think about not only the dancers within the play, but the dancers as real people. If these characters have so much to hide, what must the real dancers before us be living with?

Using red and purple lights, Tharon Musser and Natasha Katz’s lighting identifies the dancers’ innermost anxieties as they wait their turn to speak to Zach. The set (Robin Wagner) is minimal being that the action takes place on a stage (quite genius really). But when headliner Cassie’s (Charlotte d’Amboise) solo comes up and full-length mirrors lower from the ceiling, creating a dance studio feeling, her skills as a dancer are only enhanced as audiences get to see her talent from all angles.

The actors do an impressive job of keeping it casual without seeming too lax and unprofessional or, God forbid, cheesy. There are times when the scene calls for acts of friendship that it seems as though these actors truly are friends outside of the theater and know each other quite well.

In terms of differences of appearance, there’s diversity in hair color but otherwise there’s really just one race for the most part. As the token feisty black woman Sheila, Deidre Goodwin really shines. Her attitude fits her athletic physique and she commands attention whenever she stands on the stage.

As an audience member, basically bystander, it’s definitely interesting to see what goes into making up the faceless men and women of the chorus line. And perhaps that was Michael Bennett’s goal all along. Certainly these dancers work just as hard as any star performer yet their jobs go unnoticed and often unappreciated.

Living such a hectic life is not without its doubts and the confusion these dancers feel is not dissimilar to that felt by college students trying to figure out whether they should be fighting for their dreams or focusing on a financially secure future.

By the time the show ends and the dancers change from their dingy practice leotards to show costumes with so much sparkle they would make Liberace’s eyes hurt for the final number, “One,” the entire drama will have been well worth it. “A Chorus Line” has the spandex, the dancing and the men in tight pants to guarantee a fun time – what’s not to love?

(vipbroadway.com)