50 Years ago: “A Chorus Line” Comes to Broadway
It has been 50 years since this legendary Broadway musical began its run on Broadway. Here, then, is my article/scrapbook hybrid to honor the anniversary, with photos, videos, and personal memories.
First, a disclaimer: I’ve never been a fan of Broadway or movie musicals. When I lived just a few miles from New York City, I had the opportunity to see any show at nearly any time I chose. But musicals in general didn’t interest me. Comedies, yes. Neil Simon comedies, absolutely! But I’ve seen only a half-dozen stage musicals in my life, albeit they were the biggies: Fidder on the Roof (the revival with original star Zero Mostel), Ain’t Misbehavin,’ celebrating the music of Fats Waller, Dreamgirls, Les Miserables, and maybe one or two others I can’t even recall today. But no Cats, no Phantom of the Opera, no Hamilton. I could never muster the interest (and don’t get me started on the Bob Fosse musicals with those damn bowler hats).
Perhaps I just find it too difficult to accept characters suddenly bursting into song in the middle of a scene, and dance a perfectly choreographed routine — then, a few minutes later, return to the story and dialogue as if that musical number never happened.
But the one musical that absolutely struck me like lightning the first time I saw it — so much so that I attended five or six performances on Broadway (and, years later, another in Philadelphia) — was, of course, A Chorus Line. There was something about this show that mesmerized me and thrilled me, as it did for enough theatregoers to eventually make it the longest-running show in Broadway history at the time it closed.
The show grew out of a series of group therapy-style workshops and discussions among aspiring dancers (or “gypsies”), who spoke of their personal stories and struggles. Much of what they related to each other would find its way into the dialogue of the show, written by Nicholas Dante and James Kirkwood, Jr. (with additional lines by Neil Simon, after Bennett expressed his concern to him during previews that the dialogue wasn’t funny enough). The songs were written by Marvin Hamlisch (music) and Edward Kleban (lyrics), the choreography created by Michael Bennett and Bob Avian, with Bennett as director.
The show opened Off-Broadway at The Public Theatre on April 15, 1975. Upon seeing the entire run sell out, famed producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival, Joseph Papp, brought A Chorus Line to Broadway for $250,000, where it opened at the Schubert Theatre on July 25, 1975.
It quickly became the talk of New York.
Why? It may be a cliche to say so, but A Chorus Line was like nothing Broadway had ever seen before.
Presented on a bare stage and without an intermission, the two-hour show allows the audience to feel as if they’re sitting in on a chorus audition for a fictional Broadway show, starring an unseen (and un-named) female star (hence, the “she’s the one” line in the show’s signature song, “One”, in case you’ve ever wondered).
The limited number of open spots — 4 male and 4 female — intensifies the anxiety among the hopefuls. Overseeing the proceedings is the no-nonsense director Zach (originally played by Robert LuPone), who is seen onstage occasionally, but whose presence, alternately intimidating and sympathetic, is felt mostly via his voice over the public address speakers, as he interviews the nervous dancers lined up on the stage from his seat at the rear of the theatre.
Each performance of A Chorus Line at the Schubert dazzled with nearly non-stop dancing, music, drama — sometimes intertwined, often flowing into each other and overlapping — all of it a captivating assault on the senses. As one reviewer described it at the time, when the lights first come up for the opening number, all of the sixteen dancers onstage are unknown to us. By the time the show is over, we know everything about all of them. There are laughs, moments of personal drama, and much more.
We learn that one dancer in particular, Cassie (Donna McKechnie), is older, more experienced, and more talented than most of the others auditioning. We also learn that she and Zach once had a romantic relationship that went bad a few years earlier. And now here she is, struggling to find work as an anonymous member of the chorus, pleading with Zach to hire her. He’s still feeling some resentment about their break-up, while also knowing she’s too good to be a chorus dancer. Will he hire her?
The highlight of the show comes with Cassie’s sequence, “The Music and the Mirror,” which begins with her alone on the stage, squinting into the lights as she talks with the unseen Zach. Their somewhat tense exchange leads to the dramatic musical number, at which she takes off into a breathtaking dance and its changes of mood, working to a spine-tingling crescendo. It is ten solid minutes of her alone — pleading, singing, dancing up a storm — that requires the best all-around cast member to inhabit the role.
Regarding the rest of the music, some of the Hamlisch/Kleban songs are joyous (“I Can Do That”), funny, (“Sing,” “Dance, Ten, Looks, Three”), others are heartbreaking (“Nothing”), some are almost too emotionally powerful to handle (“At the Ballet”). And, of course, there is perhaps the show’s best-known song, “What I Did For Love,” sung as the dancers ponder the question, “What would you do if you couldn’t dance anymore?”
The songs help the dancers open up and relate their life experiences to that point, revealing why they’re at the audition, and what they hope for themselves in the future. At the end of each number, they return to their places in line, posing exactly the same way every time — with heads, arms, and legs positioned uniquely to each character. It is a simple but stunning effect.
When it came time for the Tony nominations for that year, A Chorus Line was nominated for 12 awards, winning nine: Best Musical, Best Musical Book, Best Score, Best Director, Best Choreography, Best Actress (Donna McKechnie), Best Featured Actor (Sammy Williams), Best Featured Actress (Kelly Bishop), and Best Lighting Design.
There were many other awards to come, including the book winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama to top off its victorious year.
It was a no-brainer, then, that the televised awards show that year would begin with the show’s opening number, “I Hope I Get It.”
Donna McKechnie and Michael Bennett married on December 4, 1976, but after only a few months they separated and eventually divorced in 1979.
Now, if I may inject myself into the story (somewhat of a rarity for me)…
My brother moved to New York in the mid-1970s and embraced the city, with all of its glisten and all of its warts, and took in a number of Broadway shows. At some point, he attended A Chorus Line and promptly raved about the show, insisting on treating our parents and myself to a performance.
I did not know what to expect, other than seeing brief glimpses in the ads for the show that populated the New York television airwaves, but nothing could have come close to what I saw on that stage.
Even before the show was over that first time, I already knew I wanted to see it again.
Once I reached driving age a year or so later, the world — especially Manhattan — was my oyster, being so close to home in New Jersey. No fears driving through the chaos of the city streets with my license still fresh in my wallet — I was eager to do it! Whenever the opportunity arose, I’d coerce my closest friends to accompany me to other performances of A Chorus Line, during which I’d make a mental note of their reactions as they took it all in. And, once I had my first girlfriend (a miracle of its own), I knew that one of our big dates would have to be a performance of A Chorus Line. This would become a custom of sorts with succeeding girlfriends (need to impress? Take her to A Chorus Line).
My well-preserved Playbills and ticket stubs indicate that I saw the show in 1977, ‘82, ’87, and ’90 (there’s probably an extra performance in there somewhere, too). Many avid theatregoers have claimed to have seen it dozens, even hundreds of times, of which I have no doubt. And, due to its unprecedented run, the show became a staple of New York. It felt as if it would simply always be there.
On September 29, 1983, the show became the longest-running show in Broadway history. For that performance, several former cast members seamlessly swapped places with the current cast at the time for the characters they played, allowing the originals to spend a few minutes in the roles they helped make famous.
In the video below, we see from that special performance the original Sheila, Kelly Bishop (who many might better remember as Emily Gilmore on The Gilmore Girls) and the original Maggie, Kay Cole (whose monologue is partially missing), join Terri Klausner as Bebe for the unforgettable “At the Ballet” (the current cast at the time then slips back in for the final lines of the song). Lyricist Edward Kleban said, “I just think it’s a very honest, very compelling tale of, you know, unhappy home life and into the artistic process as a salvation for those people. I love the whole song. I usually cry. It’s the rare performance of ‘At The Ballet’ that doesn’t make me cry all over again. I don’t know why. I just — I cried when I wrote it. I can’t tell you why.”
Another highlight among many came when Donna McKechnie performed “The Music and the Mirror” not alone, but with seven former Cassies from the show’s history: Wanda Richert, Deborah Henry, Angelique Ilo, Ann Louise Schaut, Pamela Sousa, Cheryl Clark and Vicki Frederick:
The finale, “One,” included over 300 dancers who had performed in the show at some point, crowding the stage and the theatre aisles to the delight of the audience. The stage had to be reinforced to allow so many on at the same time (click the link below to see the finale):
A Chorus Line — Broadway 3,389th performance finale
In the mid-1980s, Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the show for $5.5 million. Michael Bennett was hired as producer and director, but when his proposal to present the film as an audition to cast the movie version of the stage play was rejected, he dropped out of the project. Many directors also turned it down, citing that not only was A Chorus Line too beloved to be tampered with, but that it would not translate well to the screen. Eventually, famed director Richard Attenborough took the helm. Michael Douglas and Alyson Reed were cast as Zach and Cassie. The storyline was changed somewhat, as were some of the musical numbers.
The film opened on December 9, 1985 to mixed reviews, and vanished from the public’s consciousness before very long. But the Broadway production played on…
Donna McKechnie returned as Cassie in 1986 for a time, finally giving Yours Truly the opportunity to see the original Cassie live onstage (although my favorite Cassie, truth be known, was actually Pam Sousa, whom I saw in the role in 1982 or thereabouts).
Michael Bennett died of AIDs complications on July 2, 1987, at the age of 44. A memorial service was held at the Schubert Theatre on September 29. Edward Kleban died of cancer later that year, at the age of 48.
As for my favorite memory related to the show, it involves a close female friend who was perhaps my best friend (strictly platonic) for a number of years back in the day, before and during our college years. She met her future husband in college in the ’80s, and upon announcing their engagement, I knew in my heart that our friendship would never truly be the same, as is the way of the world. I wanted to take her out for a special evening — partly to celebrate her impending marriage, but also to acknowledge that it would most likely be our last night out together —that is, just us for an evening — before she would begin her new life. I told her that I wanted to take her to see A Chorus Line. She hadn’t seen it and knew virtually nothing about it. “It’s amazing!” I promised. She trusted my judgement enough to agree to see it. Even so, I decided to have some fun with her as we drove to the city for the performance.
“By the way,” I said casually, “there’s no intermission.”
She found that tidbit of information somewhat off-putting.
“Oh, and there’s no plot.”
“What?” she said, becoming more unnerved.
“And it’s all done on a bare stage. There are no sets.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“And the main character doesn’t say much for the first hour of the show.”
“What the hell kind of show are you taking me to?!” she protested, as I chuckled.
But, if memory serves me right, she enjoyed it. And that made for a very satisfying last “date” with my dear friend.
As the years wore on, the show began to see diminishing ticket sales. An estimated 6 million people had seen it by 1990, but despite its legendary status, time was finally winning out, after fifteen years.
Early in 1990, Joseph Papp announced that due to the declining sales, the final performance would take place on March 31.
With that announcement, a surge of sales that week reached $350,000, as theatregoers who had grown either apathetic to the show, or had taken it for granted, suddenly experienced a new-found appreciation for it, now that an end date was in sight. This enabled the show to extend its run by another month.
Newspapers and magazines lamented the end of the line, as did New York’s local TV news stations:
Not long after the announcement, I made a pilgrimage to the Schubert Theatre (of course) to take a number of photos of the exterior and marquees, helping to preserve my memories of the show.
The last performer to play Cassie was Laurie Gamache, who appeared with fellow cast member Jack Noseworthy on an edition of ABC’s Nightline shortly before closing night. Gamache teared up as she promised that the audience members that night “will get their fifty dollars’ worth.”
A Japanese television documentary crew was present in the theatre for the final performance. Gamache’s “The Music and the Mirror” was captured and broadcast nearly in its entirety (the reporter’s distracting voiceover at one point thankfully lasts only ten seconds or so). In an astonishing moment, the audience began cheering wildly even as the dance was still reaching its crescendo, with Gamache powering her way to the final note. Upon striking her classic final pose, she received a virtual explosion of applause, and a standing ovation (presumably) that lasted a full minute, perhaps one of the few times an audience had honored a performer that way in the middle of a show. Gamache was visibly overcome with emotion as she struggled to stay in character, causing the wave of applause to peak even higher. The video fades out this point, but her scene onstage wasn’t over yet. There were still more lines of dialogue between Cassie and Zach to get through. Randy Clements as Zach attempted to recite his next line twice, but had to stop and wait until the applause finally died down before the scene could come to a close, allowing Gamache to leave the stage and, presumably, let it all out.
Upon its closing, A Chorus Line was the longest running show in Broadway history, with 6,137 performances (the record was surpassed by Cats in 1997).
But, like most great musicals, the show was destined to be revived…someday.
That day finally came, sixteen years after the memorable final performance in 1990.
The Broadway revival opened at the Gerald Shoenfeld Theatre on October 5, 2006, following a run in San Francisco, and with Broadway veteran Charlotte d’Amboise in the role of Cassie (whose fabulous version of “The Music and the Mirror” is available to view on YouTube). The revival, directed by original co-director Bob Avian, with the original choreography reconstructed by original cast member Baayork Lee (Connie), cost $8 million to finance and recouped its investment in 19 weeks. On April 15, 2008, another familiar name, Mario Lopez, joined the cast as the replacement for Zach.
A few clips from the revival:
At one point in the show, several of the dancers begin trading stories of their personal struggles and embarrassments as they went through adolescence. This leads to the energetic, raucous ensemble number, “Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen” :
One of the funniest if more risqué numbers, “Dance Ten, Looks Three” — performed with gusto and undeniable charisma by Jessica Lee Goldyn as Val:
After Zach announces his final choices for the line, we come to a quiet conclusion to the proceedings…that is, until the famous closing finale, “One”:
The revival closed on August 17, 2008, after 759 performances and 18 previews.
For my fellow aficionados, here is a complete performance from the revival, as filmed (and rather well) by an attendee in the audience.
Aside from regional and college productions in the U.S. and abroad, will we likely see A Chorus Line grace a Broadway stage for another revival someday? Rumors surface occasionally; most fade quickly, sometimes due to legal issues obstructing the hope of bringing the show back to New York. But never say never…
By the way, I have not seen any musical other than A Chorus Line in over 35 years. I’ve never had the desire. With this show — without costumes or elaborate sets — I know that, for me, I’ve experienced the best ever, period.
Happy 50th anniversary, gypsies.
Until next time…
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