All I ever needed was the music and the mirror.
One singular sensation.
Do I luurrrrve A Chorus Line or what? Like Val, I never saw The Red Shoes...I saw A Chorus Line and The Nutcracker when I was little. Hooked. My dance teacher also staged "One" as a finale to our dance recital when I was little. Hooked.
Every Little Step is a documentary about the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line on Broadway. The original production closed in 1990 after about a gazillion performances so a fifteen-year gap before a new staging is appropriate. The bulk of the film follows the casting process - a marathon because soooo many people want the chance to be a part of the magic and an obstacle course because the parts (Connie, Val, Paul, Diana, Kristine, Cassie, Bebe) are very specific as to type. Interspersed with the casting footage are interviews with the producers and directors as well as Baayork Lee, the original Connie, and Marvin Hamlisch who wrote the score. You root for all the performers because they have to get this job (song!) and you really feel for those who don't make the cut. It's all blood, sweat, and tears. No one becomes a Broadway performer for the money; they all do it because they love it. A small bonus to Every Little Step is that Charlotte D'Amboise, the daughter of Jacques D'Amboise, happens to audition for Cassie. Yes, that Jacques D'Amboise is her dad, the one who danced for Mr. B, was Ephraim in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and is interviewed for this documentary. Love.
So then I had to watch the movie adaptation of A Chorus Line - which is great in some respects because they are able to play with close-ups, etc., that you can't get with a stage production, and a total clunker in others because of the way the script got chopped up (and Michael Douglas is Zach, which doesn't quite fit well in my opinion). But it has all the great songs and dance sequences so I can "One, singular sensation" my way around the house.
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