A Chorus Line | The Royale Theatre | Until 20th August | ★ ★ ★ ★
The 1975 musical A Chorus Line is the perfect work for a group of up-and-coming musical theatre talents to take on.
The story of a dancers trying out for a chorus line part in a Broadway show is filled with drama, plenty of sing-along musical numbers and a well-balanced sprinkling of comedy. It’s simple staging – it’s set on a theatre stage – means no elaborate sets are needed, and the story gives each performer their moment in the spotlight.
With a book by James Kirkwood Jr and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban, it’s the only musical to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The process of joining a room full of dancers trying out for a spot in a show is an anxiety filled and neurosis inducing experience.
You’re quickly shown a routine and expected to remember and perform it. When you’re in the front row and then asked to move to the back, is because you’re so good they’ve already decided they like your stuff – or is it you’re awful, and you’ve already blown your chance?
Dancer’s minds fill with thoughts of, “Should I have worn a different top, am I smiling too much? Am I not smiling enough? Am I too tall? Too fat? Too thin? Too old? Not old enough?” It’s all too much.
This is the world of A Chorus Line. The dancers are learning a routine and the opening number I Hope I Get It brings us into the high-pressure audition process.
After an initial cull, sixteen performers are left on stage with their headshots and their finger’s crossed. Some are seasoned veterans, hoping to get their next gig and praying that they’ve still got the youthful charm that producers and directors will be seeking. Others are hoping to have their first big break, making their childhood dreams come true.
Talented director Zach is only after eight dancers, four boys and four girls. And while he wants to see if they can sing and dance, this audition is different, he wants them to speak about themselves and share their experiences. For people born to perform, this is a challenge. A request to just be yourself is more terrifying than what they had been expecting.
Director Drew Anthony has assembled some very talented local performers for this production and many of them shine with their moment in the spotlight.
G. Madison IV is commanding as the puppet master director Zach, successful balancing the different sides of the character. Zach’s a brilliant and inspiring theatre director, but this has come with a price for his personal relationships. While he’s short and sharp with the dancers on stage, he shows great empathy and understanding when young dancer Paul shares his confronting and emotional back story.
Elethea Sartorelli is clearly relishing playing the part of the jaded and slightly older dancer Shiela, it’s famously one of the best parts in the show. Lucy Goodrick excels as Val, delivering the excellent number Dance: Ten, Looks: Three. While Morgan Cowling is captivating as Cassie, Zach’s ex-girlfriend who is hoping to find a job in the chorus line again after failing to make it as a featured performer.
Allen Blachford is entertaining as the camp and aloof dancer Bobby, and Greg Jarema couldn’t have been more perfectly cast as Greg.
One of the show’s most poignant and emotional moments comes when Paul, one of the youngest performers hoping to be cast shares his story. Zak Bresland brought tears to audience member’s eyes, and at the end of the scene you could see people in the audience removing their glasses and searching for tissues.
If you’ve only ever seen the film adaptation of this musical, it’s a joy to see it performed on stage. There are a few differences. Sir Richard Attenborough’s 1985 film mostly removed one of the shows best song’s, the slightly risqué Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love which was a terrible shame, it’s great to see this number included.
This production also includes a big number for Cassie called The Music and the Mirror, in the film version she sings Let Me Dance for You. The latter song reuses part of the music from the song used in the stage version. A debate for musical theatre aficionados is – which one is better?
The film also understandably gave one of the biggest songs What I Did for Love to its leading lady. In its original format it’s sung by the whole company, and it takes on a different, more multi-layered meaning.
Importantly the stage version has a lot more gay characters than the film version presents. In 1975 this was heralded as bold and progressive, and one of the challenges of current productions of this show is ascertaining when the story is set.
Are these dancers hoping for a big break in 1975, 1985 or 2025? On one hand you could argue that the experience of performers hoping to get a role in a show in universal, but the underlying social themes the work is tackling have changed over the decades.
In one of the key scenes the dancer Paul talks about his father taking him to venues on 42nd Street, a locale that was very different in the early 1970s to the tourist attracting destination it is today. Not knowing the time period means some of the more powerful elements of the story can be inadvertently glossed over.
A Chorus Line shows that once again Perth has a lot of talented local performers and here is a great chance for them to really shine.
Tickets to A Chorus Line are on sale now.
Graeme Watson
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