A Chorus Line

With music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban, and book by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, A Chorus Line is about dancers auditioning for a chorus line.  Apparently the authors devised the book from conversations with actors so they created the character of the director, Zach (Andy Ward), who wants to know more about each dancer and calls them out one by one to tell their stories. They sing, dance, share personal anecdotes and give us a taste of the desperation, anxiety and hope that dancers feel at an audition.

Gail Baker’s scenic design placed a row of mirrors towards the back of the stage as if in a dance studio. The only set changes were performed by removing the mirrors to leave a gauze backdrop and adjusting pools of light to distinguish between various spaces — provided by Allan Baxter’s lighting design.

The show was obviously thoroughly rehearsed and there was certainly plenty of energy on stage. From the starting number “I Hope I Get It” to the final reprise of the classic “One,” the entire company is on stage for the better half of the show. This musical demands much of the actors/dancers since they are standing on a bare stage and, instead of interacting with each other, in the main they are  speaking more or less directly to the audience.

 In this cast of rising stars everyone gets a chance to shine, and so they did both as a unit and individually; but there were two or three standout performers.  Ebony Chamberlain-King’s Diana, who sings two of the show’s best songs (“Nothing” and “What I Did for Love”), was well done and this actress is undeniably very talented. Also undeniably talented is Josh Jenkins (Paul), who has perhaps the most heartbreaking story. When he lifted the lid on Paul's emotions he was both convincing and captivating.  A second ‘back story’ concerns Cassie, beautifully played by Laura Jolley a starlet whose career has plummeted. 

However, as a show A Chorus Line only takes off vocally and choreographically in the ensemble numbers when it becomes rousing. The choreography by Jessica Clifford and Andy Thorpe (who also gave a great performance as Larry the Choreographer) was superb and was executed faultlessly by the cast.  The musicians, under musical director Mark Aldous, were first-rate although slightly overpowering in some of the numbers that had dialogue within the song.

In her programme note, director Gail Baker says “A Chorus Line is a bit of a Marmite show, you either love it or hate it”. She also quoted a member of the audience at the original West End production who was overheard to say ‘This isn’t a show, it’s an audition, or something!’  I agree with both sentiments.  I have never much liked Marmite but you could not really fault this first-class production.

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