"A Chorus Line" hit the nerve of Broadway in the mid 70s, with its take on dancing as both a passion and as a profession, using the device of an audition where the director asks for an intrusively large amount of personal information to dive deep into the lives of 17 auditionees for an 8-person dancing chorus. It talks about how the passion is nurtured, both in joy of the achievement (Mike's "I can do that") and in escape from a messy home life (Sheila, Maggie and Bebe's "At the Ballet"), getting into how the profession gives them body dysmorphia (Connie's "4 foot 10" and Val's "Dance 10 Looks 3"), giving us a chance to know them all as individuals, before a finale where they all join in an immaculate, identical chorus of parts in a director's whole vision. It's very much drawn from the 70's encounter-group movement (it originated as a series of taped workshops, making it one of two musicals drawn largely from verbatim material opening this week, between this and "Come from Away"), and the mix of deep emotions and glib joking in the dialogue by James Kirkwood Jr and Nicholas Dante is a very 1970s broadway phenomenon, albiet one that in its original production ran from 1975 to 1990, making it at the time the longest running broadway show ever (since outrun by "Cats", "The Lion King", "Phantom of the Opera", "Les Mis", "Wicked" and the 90s "Chicago" revival, ironic given "Chorus Line" dominated the attention during "Chicago"s initial run).
Free-Rain's production is directed and choreographed by Michelle Heine who uses a choreographer's eye to create strong stage pictures for the story to play out in, supporting the performers as they transition in and out of dance as part of the storytelling (there's an additional credit of "acting consultant" for Isaac Gordon, so I'm not sure exactly how this worked in the rehearsal room but certainly the performers embody their roles with skill and care). Craig Johnson's 12 part orchestra underpins the production with a strong brassy Broadway sound, with moments of delicacy where required in "At the Ballet" and the ballad "What I did For Love" handled well too. I'd normally pick out the performers for individual praise but in a show with 19 prlincipals that would make this unbearably long - let's just say they each bring out the individual soul of their characters with skill and power, performing their humanity strongly.
Zac Harvey's lighting design is precise and skilled, giving us firm beams down on each cast member in isolation as the nerve-wracking auditions begin and letting the space widen for groups to assemble. Telia Jansen's sound design balances a big brassy orchestra and individual voices well, getting the vital lyrics across articulately and giving us a well-scaled sound.
This is a chance to see a legendary phenomenon on stage and to see a local cast at the top of their game execute one of the classics.
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