A Chorus Line is a musical
with music by Marvin Hamlisch. The musical opened in 1975 and ran for 6,137
performances, becoming the longest-running production in Broadway history until
surpassed by Cats in 1997. It received twelve Tony Award nominations,
and won nine, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The story centers on 17 Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus
line, the musical is set on the bare stage of a Broadway theatre during an
audition for a musical. A Chorus Line provides a glimpse into the
personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the
events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers. The
show opens in the middle of an audition for an upcoming Broadway production.
The formidable director Zach and his assistant choreographer Larry put the
dancers through their paces. Every dancer is desperate for work ("I Hope I
Get It"). After the next round of cuts, 17 dancers remain. Zach tells them
he is looking for a strong dancing chorus of four boys and four girls. He wants
to learn more about them, and asks the dancers to introduce themselves. With
reluctance, the dancers reveal their pasts. The stories generally progress chronologically
from early life experiences through adulthood to the end of a career.
The first candidate, Mike, explains that he is the youngest of 12 children.
He recalls his first experience with dance, watching his sister's dance class
when he was a pre-schooler ("I Can Do That"). Mike took her place one
day when she refused to go to class—and he stayed. Bobby tries to hide the
unhappiness of his childhood by making jokes. As he speaks, the other dancers
have misgivings about this strange audition process and debate what they should
reveal to Zach ("And..."), but since they all need the job, the
session continues.
Zach is angered when he feels that the streetwise Sheila is not taking the
audition seriously. Opening up, she reveals that her mother married at a young
age and her father neither loved nor cared for them. When she was six, she
realized that ballet provided relief from her unhappy family life, as did Bebe
and Maggie ("At the Ballet"). The scatter-brained Kristine is
tone-deaf, and her lament that she could never sing is interrupted by her
husband Al finishing her phrases in tune ("Sing").
Mark, the youngest of the dancers, relates his first experiences with
pictures of the female anatomy and his first wet dream, while the other dancers
share memories of adolescence ("Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello
Love"). The 4'10" Connie laments the problems of being short, and
Diana Morales recollects her horrible high school acting class
("Nothing"). Don remembers his first job at a nightclub and Judy
reflects on her problematic childhood while some of the auditionees talk about
their opinion of their parents ("Mother"). Then, Greg speaks about
his discovery of his homosexuality and Richie recounts how he nearly became a
kindergarten teacher ("Gimme the Ball"). Finally, the newly buxom Val
explains that talent alone doesn't count for everything with casting directors,
and silicone and plastic surgery can really help ("Dance: Ten; Looks:
Three").
The dancers go downstairs to learn a song for the next section of the
audition, but Cassie stays onstage to talk to Zach. She is a veteran dancer who
has had some notable successes as a soloist. They have a history together: Zach
had cast her in a featured part previously, and they had lived together for
several years. Zach tells Cassie that she is too good for the chorus and
shouldn't be at this audition. But she hasn't been able to find solo work and
is willing to "come home" to the chorus where she can at least
express her passion for dance ("The Music and the Mirror"). Zach
sends her downstairs to learn the dance combination.
Zach calls Paul on stage, and he emotionally relives his childhood and high
school experience, his early career in a drag act, coming to terms with his
manhood and his homosexuality, and his parents' ultimate reaction to finding
out about his lifestyle. Paul breaks down and is comforted by Zach. Cassie and
Zach's complex relationship resurfaces during a run-through of the number
created to showcase an unnamed star ("One"). Zach confronts Cassie, feeling
that she is "dancing down," and they rehash what went wrong in their
relationship and her career. Zach points to the machine-like dancing of the
rest of the cast—the other dancers who have all blended together, and who will
probably never be recognized individually—and mockingly asks if this is what
she wants. Cassie defiantly defends the dancers: "I’d be proud to be one
of them. They’re wonderful....They’re all special. I’d be happy to be dancing
in that line. Yes, I would...."
During a tap sequence, Paul falls and injures his knee that recently
underwent surgery. After Paul is carried off to the hospital, all at the
audition stand in disbelief, realizing that their careers can also end in an
instant. Zach asks the remaining dancers what they will do when they can no
longer dance. Led by Diana, they reply that whatever happens, they will be free
of regret ("What I Did for Love"). The final eight dancers are
selected: Mike, Cassie, Bobby, Judy, Richie, Val, Mark, and Diana.
"One" (reprise/finale) begins with an individual bow for each of
the 19 characters, their hodgepodge rehearsal clothes replaced by identical
spangled gold costumes. As each dancer joins the group, it is suddenly
difficult to distinguish one from the other: ironically, each character who was
an individual to the audience seems now to be an anonymous member of a never-ending
ensemble.
