This is A Chorus Line, the musical for everyone who’s ever had a dream and put it all on the line, and the story of the ones who make it and the ones who don’t.

Winner of nine Tony Awards®, including ‘Best Musical’ and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this singular sensation is one of the longest-running American musicals in Broadway history.

 

Now playing at: His Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne, Australia.

To the cast of A Chorus Line Australia: Break a leg! http://www.achorusline.com.au/

Update: The Melbourne season of A Chorus Line has been extended until March 11. The show is  going to Singapore next.  Visit http://www.achorusline.com.au/ for details.

“It’s appealing to both traditional and new, young theatre audiences.

The revival of the Broadway classic tells of young hopefuls auditioning.”

Watch: Baayork Lee.

Review: Straight To The Point / Truly a singular sensation

For some people, seeing old movies can take them back to a time and place and replicate a moment in their lives. For me, it can be theatre.

Sadly, I have often been very disappointed to go back to a new production of a favourite musical and be sadly disappointed that it has been tampered with so much I hardly recognise it. Not so, with A Chorus Line, the unique and iconic musical that is getting a much overdue revival in Melbourne at the moment, with an almost certain Australian and international tour to follow.

A Chorus Line has always been on my list of top ten musicals, ever since I saw it in London in 1976. It has come into my life at different times with different productions over the years, either here or in New York and each time I see it, it’s like a reunion with an old friend. It is a familiar lifetime theatrical touchstone. Granted, each time I see it now, I’m always a little thrown by the thought that most of the casts of the show today weren’t even born when I first encountered its brilliance, thirty six years ago.

This new production is a pleasing reversal of the failure of some of the big budget shows we have seen falter in the last twelve months. Carefully budgeted with even more careful and modest seasons planned, producer Tim Lawson has been very clever.

If the show didnt take off in Adelaide (its first port of call) and Melbourne, that would be the end of its brief return. Yet, after a successful season in Adelaide, the show has gone through the roof in Melbourne, which has guaranteed an extension and a possible lengthy tour.

Lawson was very right in his early thoughts, the show has enormous attraction to an audience, who, today, are familiar with talent quest shows: shows where a performer has to audition endlessly to stay in the (mostly ghastly) reality TV talent programs that have become so popular in recent years. With all that can be said against talent reality shows, it seems to have taught audiences one thing; that the battle for success and talent recognition is a tough call. The themes explored so effectively in A Chorus Line seem more relevant today to what theatre people like to call “the great unwashed” (ie the audiences who watch shows, but have little idea of the world of theatre and show business and how it all works).

Chorus Line was developed from a series of interviews conducted by original creator, the late Michael Bennett, who wanted to hear and see what chorus dancers felt and thought about being in a show, but also about their lives and how they became dancers. Dramatised into a theatrical whole, the show is contrived at times, but captures much of the thoughts of those original interviewees many of whom went on to become members of the original broadway cast.

The show has played all over the world and until the arrival of the British mega musicals, it was the longest running musical in the history of Broadway and as of now, it is only seconded by Chicago as the longest running American musical in New York theatre history. (There is great irony in Chicago now holding that honour, but that’s another story for another day).

The current Australian production is the third in local theatre history. The original 1977 Australian production introduced many new faces to the industry who have since become well known; Pieta Toppano, David Atkins, Karen Johnson Mortimer (who replaced the original American Cassie), Angela Ayers, to name a few. A second commercial production premiered in 1993 and this new production is sure to introduce some new names into the stratosphere.

I have seen the show in New York several times (including the recent revival which inspired the wonderful documentary Every Little Step) a couple of rather tired productions during the latter part of the original Broadway season, but my greatest Chorus Line memory was early in 1977 in London.

A New York touring cast had opened the show, but after six months it was expected that a British company take over. There was a lot of controversy surrounding this change, as the feeling was that the Brits weren’t ready to take over and British Equity was insisting the new company take over on the appointed day. I was in the audience on the night the brits took over for the first time, a night fuelled by the drama that had gone before. Yet, as you can imagine the audience was overwhelmingly supportive, but none more so than when a young Diane Langton (who went on to become a major West End theatre star) totally stopped the show singing “Nothing”. The audience would not stop clapping, leaving her to gesture to their cries of “more”- “they won’t let me!!”- a great theatre memory.

My only bad memory associated with this wonderful clever theatrical masterpiece is the terrible Hollywood movie version made in 1985. Richard Attenborough, a fine director of british movies and epics (such as Gandhi) took the project on. Clearly knowing nothing of the Broadway history of the show (nor of what the show was even about), he jettisoned all the original Bennett choreography, replaced it with choreography by Jeffrey Hornaday (whose only claim to fame had been the movie Flashdance and nothing since), cut numbers, changed numbers and then committed the unforgiveable act of turning “What I Did for Love”, the song that expresses the whole theme of the show (why performers do what they do and what would happen, if they cant perform anymore) and turned it into a love song between Zac and Cassie. Thankfully, the movie bombed and the original creative team disowned it. Lovers of Chorus Line have longed for a new film version preserving Bennett’s choreography and faithful to the original intent of the show. At least they have the Every Little Step documentary which goes a long way to preserving the show on film and Bennett’s memory.

A Chorus Line cannot be changed as a stage show. Bennett’s estate insists the show remains as it was written and danced and original cast member Baayork Lee tours the world checking the productions remain faithful to the original. Baayork came to Australia to steer this new company, but I must mention here the superb work of Siobhan Ginty who has really sharpened the show and readied it for the Melbourne premiere. She is one of our foremost theatre choreographers and her talent shines through every moment of this sparkling new production.

Whatever you have to do, dont miss it.

Highlights:

Opened April 15, 1975 at the Public Theatre in New York; moved July 25, 1975 to the Shubert Theatre. (6137 performances)

It’s 36 years since A Chorus Line danced into our lives. One of the longest-running shows in Broadway history. Nothing will ever supplant it in the hearts of a great many theatergoers. A Broadway revival started in 2006 and ended in 2008, followed by A Chorus Line on tour which ended by August 2011. A movie about the making of A Chorus Line has been published under the name: Every Little Step

Composer Marvin Hamlisch visits rehearsals of A Chorus Line in London: with Ashley Nottingham, Jack Wilcox, Gary Wood, Lisa Donmall-Reeve, Nicholas Munro-Clark, Ricardo Coke-Thomas, Samantha Hull, Andrew Waldron, Lizzie Hughes, Harry Francis, Robert Purvis, Stephanie Leanne Fearon and Steph Fearon. -Preparing for production in Israel (at The Israel Opera Tel Aviv )- 2011

PRODUCTION OF ACL — LONDON

The human struggle behind the songs:

Every kid who ever came to New York to work in and around the theater, or anybody who dances for a living in that milieu, will immediately connect with the stories of the characters of A Chorus Line, and upon listening to them will say, “That’s me.”

Which may explain why this is such an emotional show for so many people. A Chorus Line may not stand as the greatest musical in Broadway history, but it’s hard to think of another (all right, West Side Story) that seemed to stir up such feelings on such a scale.

Tribute: What I Did For Love

Within the theater community, A Chorus Line will endure as the career pinnacle of the director/choreographer Michael Bennett. The promise of his work on Company and Follies flowered here; the subsequent disappointment of Ballroom would not have seemed so harsh without this towering behind it. Then came Dreamgirls, which was an interesting hit, but not on this level of achievement. And then, what seemed an instant later, Bennett was gone. He wrote neither book nor score for A Chorus Line, but this is his monument, as personal a statement of “this is who I am” as any Broadway-musical creator has put on the stage.

The world knows that in 1974 Bennett tape-recorded the reminiscences of a group of “gypsies”- Broadway chorus dancers, eight of whom would be a part of this original cast– bought the rights to those stories, and convinced Joseph Papp of the non-profit Public Theater to bankroll a workshop that would develop them into a stage musical.

What emerged was a show with no stars, no set, and almost no plot. This struck people as daring in 1975; given what’s been on the Broadway stage in the intervening two decades, “astounding” seems more like it. So much has been written about Papp’s contributions to the theater, but this is all you really need to know: With a non-profit company that was a million and a half dollars in the red, he put up half a million more for no starts, no set, etc., and a creative team which, aside from Bennett, had virtually no track record in the theater. And it worked, and the profits funded the Public’s other work for 15 years. It just about restores your faith in miracles; when you realize that nothing like it has happened since, you see how miraculous it was.

Bennett began pulling together his irregulars at that first taping, offering them a dazzling hundred dollars a week to do the workshop. Nicholas Dante, the original author, was one of those dancers; his recollections form the basis of Paul, the gypsy who debuted in a drag show. James Kirkwood, a novelist and playwright who had been an actor, was brought in to condense, edit, and dramatize.

Credits– (also Hamlisch and Bennett) — 1975

Lyricist Ed Kleban (a former Columbia Records executive) made his Broadway debut here. But Marvin Hamlisch was already such a name that it’s easy to forget this was also his first Broadway Score. Hamlisch had been one of those teen phenomenons of the Brill Building school, writing the not-bad-at-all “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” for Lesley Gore when he was 16. He made the most of some movie connections and began writing film scores, including, memorably, Woody Allen’s Take the Money and Run and Bananas, before striking it rich with the theme song (and Barbra Streisand standard) from The Way We Were. That won him his first Oscar; the second came for his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” in The Sting.

Read more about the Musical: A Chorus Line:

A Chorus Line — The Original

A nanosecond after their Broadway opening, April 15, 1975, before any critics had even had a chance to weigh in, all tickets disappeared. Two months later-it could have been two minutes– they transferred uptown to the Shubert, and the critics fell all over themselves. “The conservative word…might be tremendous, or perhaps terrific,” wrote Clive Barnes in the New York Times. “Possibly the most effective Broadway musical since Gypsy,” said Michael Feingold in the Village Voice. Douglas Watt, in the Daily News:

“I’ve seen it four times now, and each time I’ve left the theater exhilarated after two hours of almost total absorption capped by the most inventive and satisfying final ever devised for a musical.”

And Martin Gottfried in the Post:

“A dazzling show; driving, compassionate and finally thrilling. It is a major event in the development of the American Musical Theater.”

They won everything, the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critics Award, and nine Tonys, including best musical, two for Bennett (choreography and direction), score, book and cast members Donna McKechnie, Sammy Williams and Carole (Kelly) Bishop. For once, the nobodies– the people in the back, behind the star– triumphed.

Who doesn’t know this story? No curtain, a bare stage with a line painted across it, a dance mirror that comes and goes . Final auditions for dancers in a never-named Broadway show. 24 hopefuls will be cut down to eight, four “boys” and four “girls.” And that’s the suspense, sort of like The Towering Inferno without the special effects, wondering if your favorite will be picked off.

Watch More Videos

A Chorus Line — The Revival

Sweet Smell of Success

In 2011 the musical had a production by New York University students  (NYU Steinhardt’s Program– 2011)

The Arts Educational School in London also had a production by third-year students during 2011:

LONDON, U.K. — “The Musical Sweet Smell of Success gets its British premiere in a production featuring third-year students of the Arts Educational school:

 “I can only report that no musical this year has given me more pleasure: the story is gripping, the Marvin Hamlisch score dramatically powerful, and the dancing as good as you will find in any West End show. Musicals based on movies often betray the original: this one faithfully replicates the sombre savagery of the Alexander Mackendrick film. Set in New York in the early 1950s, it’s the story of a legendary showbiz columnist, JJ Hunsecker, closely modelled on Walter Winchell. But while JJ, which someone claims stands for “jugular, jugular”, patrols Manhattan’s sidewalks as if he owns them, he harbours an incestuous passion for his half-sister; and Sidney Falco, JJ’s acolyte, is forced into crime and corruption to protect his master’s Achilles heel.The plot may steer towards waterfront melodrama, but then so does that of Rigoletto. What matters is that John Guare’s witty book conveys the awesome power, and rightwing prejudice, of a column like that written by JJ. Hamlisch’s score also catches the frenzy of Manhattan life and is full of pleasing ironies: my favourite comes when a psalm in St Patrick’s Cathedral provides a bakground to the columnist’s Machiavellian scheming. Steven Bush here plays JJ with a self-possession and assurance that belies his years, Michael Woolston-Thomas is a suitably grubby Sidney, and the ensemble, in Guy Unsworth’s production, is terrific: I take my hat off to the girl in the red dress who did a hair-raising backward fall off a high rostrum. I’m just astonished that a musical as good as this, resembling an updated Duchess of Malfi, has lain neglected so long”  Source:  Michael Billington Guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 November 2011

London — Sweet Smell of Success -

Source:  Michael Billington Guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 November 2011

Listen to samples of the musical score with the original Broadway cast:

The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp visited the hometown of its founder Paul Newman to celebrate his creative and philanthropic spirit at Westport Country Playhouse with a special screening of The Sting.

“I looked up to Paul Newman as a true role model,” recalled Hamlisch who won an Oscar for adapting the music for the iconic 1973 film that starred Newman and Robert Redford.

The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp Site.

Watch: At The Oscars– The Sting wins Best Picture

Watch: Short Video about The Sting

Comments:

Marvin H – Couldn’t make it to the Founder’s Celebration. Very glad things went well.

Larry P-  It was a great event and I’m happy to support the camp. The Westport Country Playhouse was an outstanding venue.

Fred T-  Happy to have supported the event! Keep up the great work!

Michelle G– Was a real pleasure to be there. There was a happy feeling in the theater and Jimmy Canton is awesome and articulate and is keeping the legacy alive. ♥

Pamela M — was a pleasure to attend!

Tina  C — Wonderful to be there!

Tara G K — A great time was had by all!

Comments:

Penny L.  We love Marvin Hamlisch and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Just got home from the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops and was once again so moved by the beautiful music and entertaining banter by Mr. Hamlisch.  Thank you so very much for providing such a memorable night. How truly fortunate we are in Pittsburgh to have Mr. Hamlisch as our Principal Pops Conductor. Thank you for all that you do to promote the arts.

David Stephen Koz. Marvin, I am so honored to be here in Pittsburgh with you and the symphony. It’s gonna be an amazing week! thank you so much, Dave Koz.

Watch — Vanessa Williams & David Koz perform The Way We Were

Sage Z. I love how you made one tiny change to “The Way We Were” and it made it a thousand times better. It’s been an honor working with you.

Sarah M. It’s been amazing working with you as part of the All Star College Choir in Pittsburgh — looking forward to the next two shows!

Samantha F. I have sung in the all-star choir of the Pittsburgh symphony orchestra for the past few years, and it has been a complete honor working with Mr. Hamlisch for these performances! I can’t wait to come back again!

Ruth D B. Thanks for all you continue to do, it’s a gift for all of us!

Shelly S. F.  Great new site!!! Thanks for all you do for Pittsburgh

John R Dallas Jr. — Great new web site. Thanks for sharing your genius and your memories.

Visit the Pittsburgh Symphony Website:

Pittsburgh Symphony

On his way out of the Alberta Bair Theater Saturday night, longtime supporter and onetime ABT marketing director Corby Skinner reminisced about performing in “A Chorus Line” at the theater 25 years ago.

That made hearing Marvin Hamlisch, the composer for “A Chorus Line,” perform melodies from the award-winning musical Saturday that much more exciting for Skinner and undoubtedly many others in the audience. It was an evening for nostalgia and celebration.

“It’s an honor to be associated with the Alberta Bair Theater,” said Wayne Hirsch, immediate past president of the ABT board of directors.

Just as they did 25 years ago for the ABT’s opening night concert featuring Burt Bacharach, many members of the audience arrived Saturday in tuxedos and evening gowns. But there were also cowboy hats and blue jeans, and as Hamlisch introduced his closing number, he came out in a new black cowboy hat.

“I always end with this song. I didn’t write it, but I like to end with it because it gives us hope,” Hamlisch said as he directed the BSO in a lush version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.“It was a rare serious moment for Hamlisch, who had spent most of the 2½-hour concert cracking jokes and telling anecdotes about his 45 years in the business. As he had throughout the evening, Hamlisch alternated between playing the melody on the piano and standing at the podium to direct the orchestra. Sometimes he directed with his left hand and played piano with his right.

Watch: Marvin Hamlisch — Suite from Sophie’s Choice

Hamlisch proved a nimble performer. He proved just how spontaneous he could be when he called for suggestions for a song title from the audience.

“A lot of people ask, ‘How do you write a song?’ I always start with a title,” Hamlisch said.

Taking an audience member’s suggestion of “Beartooths,” Hamlisch came up with a jazzy melody and lyrics about Billings and the Beartooths, which he sang to the audience.

“If you want me baby, take me to the Beartooths and I’ll do anything for you,” went the song.

The 67-year-old music icon was never pompous, but stories about his life and career included an impressive cast of characters from Groucho Marx to Barbra Streisand and Neil Simon.

When Hamlisch introduced “My Fair Lady” in the first half of the concert, he said got the record when he was 12.

He’s lived most of his life in New York City and admired musicals, especially “West Side Story” and “My Fair Lady.” In the middle of the medley from “My Fair Lady,” BSO concert master Randy Tracy played violin with Hamlisch at the piano on the sentimental “I Could Have Danced All Night” and you could almost picture this 12-year-old kid playing his piano along with his new record.

Hamlisch had described his show as if he and the audience were spending an evening together in his living room. He made good on that promise with a comfortable yet memorable evening.

“I’m getting into this town,” Hamlisch said. “People come up to me, saying ‘Thank you for coming.’ I’m saying to them, ‘Thank you for inviting me.’ I really like it here.”

Thank you Jerry for your kind remarks:
From: Jerry M
Subject: Loved It in Billings!!!
Marvin,

Just a brief note to tell you how much I enjoyed the show you did in Billings, MT last night. I played 3rd trumpet in the orchestra, and I must confess that at times I was so overwhelmed with the beauty of your music, your persona, the way you talked with the audience, the little tidbits of advice you imparted, your humor, etc. — the whole spirit of the show — that I shed a few tears.  The show was so “right”, so moving. I also loved the way you related with our orchestra — not arrogant — just forthright and professional. You are such an admirable human being.  My wife played 1st flute. Just wanted you to know that your presence made a real impact on us. We talked about you for hours after the show — not wanting to let go of the wonderful feelings you brought to us.  You went straight to our hearts. So THANK YOU.

Most sincerely,
Jerry

The American songwriter-composer-pianist — who created an enormous list of hit songs, shows and films, as well as an opera and revolutionary pieces for orchestra — is the focus of this weekend’s fascinating, entertaining, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Pops series performance.

Friday’s performance found Marvin Hamlisch on the podium and Gershwin appearing in images and video footage on a projection screen above the orchestra.

Watch: Kevin Cole

Watch: Gershwin

Pianist-vocalist Kevin Cole assumed the role of narrator, delivering a wealth of information about George and Ira Gershwin from the piano as though speaking to a gathering of friends.

Cole used that shirt-sleeves style, a perfect balance of concise information and personal warmth, to paint very touching pictures of the Gershwins. He sang with ease and an unaffected pop style, and brought a dynamic, improvisational feel to the brilliant piano solos of pieces such as “Rhapsody in Blue” and the Concerto in F.

Vocalist Sylvia McNair brought a straightforward, communicative style to vocals on several numbers, working the room with ease.

Vocalist and tap dancer Ryan VanDenBoom’s tap and soft-shoe numbers were a delightful, polished homage to the effortless, stylish dancing of tap masters Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Popping sounds from the sound system during the program’s first half and a false start by Hamlisch and the orchestra during the second half didn’t help the program, but Hamlisch added one of those stellar moments only he can pull off. In the midst of some offhand remarks, Hamlisch said that years ago, while he was working with Groucho Marx, Marx told him a story about Gershwin. It’s not every day one hears someone say, “Groucho told me … ”

Recordings in a store are a musical wallpaper that references enjoyable emotions. How revitalizing it was, therefore, to encounter the freshly conceived holiday concert led by Marvin Hamlisch, which generated new memories with boldly committed performances.

But rather than begin with holiday music, the concert started with Jodi Benson as soloist in “My Favorite Things” by Richard Rodgers. Hamlisch is a master at assembling a variety show. Nearly all the repertoire was favorites, including the four numbers of the Christmas Sing-Along.

Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival” showed that Hamlisch and the orchestra were in top form. The balances were exemplary; better, in fact, than at some classical subscription concerts.

The symphony’s new sound system was controlled to achieve ideal balances, too. The Mendelssohn Choir provided just the right climax to “A Christmas Festival” — strong but not overdone. The choir also was excellent in the “Hallelujah Chorus.”

“Chestnuts Pops Melody” included two great songs by Mel Torme, performed with a twist by Gary Mauer. In place of the original smooth and underplayed style, Mauer brought an intensity that was borrowed from Andrew Lloyd Webber shows. Not surprising, perhaps, because Mauer did star in the Hal Prince production of “The Phantom of the Opera.” This style was present in his other solos, but, fortunately, not in his duets with Benson.

Benson was a charmer, except for one number. She and Mauer were wonderfully animated in Frank Loesser’s song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” “Part of Your World” from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which she sang for the film, would have been a highlight of any Pops concert.

Seven dancers from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School provided a special moment in the Dance of the Mirlitons from “The Nutcracker.” The elegance and precision of three young ladies fit the music perfectly, while four younger dancers as three white sheep and a black sheep provided a light comic touch.

Santa always makes an appearance at Holiday Pops concerts. Baritone Kevin Glavin was back to apply his wonderful voice to a hip version of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.”

Tenor Ricky Manning sang “Danny Boy” with impressively sustained feeling and got a big hand. Manning, a detective with the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, came onstage in uniform and also sang “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” in honor of those who protect us even as we enjoy the holidays.

A lovely pairing of “Silent Night” and “White Christmas” brought the concert to a feel-good conclusion. The orchestral encore, Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride,” sent us home with the right breezy, but not chilly, tone.

Actor John Stamos as the evening’s host. Country star Lorrie Morgan and actress Marlee Matlin also took to the stage to pay tribute to soldiers in active duty at the annual Christmas Concert For The Troops at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall.

Morgan sang the holiday classic My Favorite Things as well as In My Room with the Beach Boys, before joining with Broadway star John Lloyd Young to perform America The Beautiful as a duet.

The evening’s host Stamos comments  after event: “I was humbled to perform for our troops in D.C. tonight – important to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!”.

The event was presented by D.C. residents Suzy and Bob Pence along with the USO of Metropolitan Washington.

Merry Christmas!

Nancy Rhodes, Lucie Arnaz, Sheldon Harnick, Marvin Hamlisch, Karen Ziemba, Daniel De Siena

Moving tributes to Mr. Hamlisch were given by theatre legend and Event Chair Sheldon Harnick, Craig Carnelia, David Zippel, Donald Pippin, Michael Kerker and Baayork Lee.

Watch: Melissa Manchester

Watch: Lucie Arnaz

Mr. Hamlisch ended the musical evening with a moving thank you and by playing the overture he had composed for A CHORUS LINE with all the luminaries gathered around his piano. The cap of the evening came with champagne, luscious desserts and reveries for all. See pictures