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A Chorus Line: Director
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Before the final cut is made in A Chorus Line, the director Zach asks each of the Broadway hopefuls to take a few minutes and talk about themselves. The interview starts out in the usual manner: what's your name, you age and why do you want to be dancer. However, it isn't long before customers of Image New York Car Rentals come to see that far more is coming to the surface in these one-on-one conversations. Zach wants to know about families, friends, lovers, ambitions and careers. One by one, customers of Image New York Car Rentals will watch as these aspiring stars step forward and explain their innermost fears and desires. Some find it hard to open up, while others are more than happy to talk of their experiences.
A Chorus Line takes the audience through the final grueling audition run by the director for a new Broadway musical. He wants to elicit a personal history from each finalist: how they got into "show business," why they became dancers, what their hopes, fantasies and aspirations are. As he calls upon them individually, they react in every possible way, from bravado to reticence. From childhood on, their memories emerge, blending into a seamless series of musical numbers and monologues, some humorous, some poignant, some group reminiscences when they all share their adolescent experiences and some intimate. As their individual stories pour out in song and in spoken words, interspersed by learning dance routines that reveal their ability to perform as a faceless drill team, the audience, as well as the director, gets to know each one of these ambitious entertainers individually, so that by the show's end, they can identify and root for their favorites as well as empathize with all of them because they all need the job, they all want to work at their craft.
Source:
MAGGIE, SHEILA, BEBE: "Yes, ev'rything was beautiful at the ballet. Hey!" A very different emotion filled the Shubert Theatre on the night that marked the end of A Chorus Line on Broadway. Tears choked many of the cast's final performances and an even more emotional audience interrupted with applause, cheers and their own expressions of remorse. At the show's conclusion, Joseph Papp walked on stage and introduced the members of the final Broadway cast and then called on stage, one by one, many of the original cast members. He ... included the names of Edward Kleban (the show's lyricist who died of cancer in 1987) and James Kirkwood (one of the show's co-authors who died of cancer in 1989). When he called the name of Michael Bennett, who died of AIDS in July of 1987, a giant photograph of the "Star-Director-Choreographer" was lowered on stage. Finally, Papp turned and asked the cast to take their final bows.
A CHORUS LINE is about dancers, overdedicated, underpaid, highly trained performers who back up the star. Its about how they got into "show business", why they became dancers, what their hopes, fantasies and aspirations are. These dancers are auditioning for a new Broadway musical....they all "need this job". There are twenty-two semi-finalists, which thins down to the final seventeen. They and the audience know that eventually this number will be cut and the director (Zach) will choose only four boys and four girls to be in his new musical. Instead of having them read a short audition scene, Zach wants to elicit a personal history from each one.
A Chorus Line was revived on the Broadway stage in 2006 and is still as successful as it used to be in its earlier run. It is the same story of the ambitious dancers hoping to make their mark on the Broadway stage. The way they all give their heart and soul into the audition process makes for great drama in the play. The main storyline of the play takes off when the director Zach asks each dancer to tell him about themselves. He wants to know more than just their name, age and hometown. He wants to know about their families, friends, lovers and ambitions.
A Chorus Line follows a director and 17 hopefulls as they compete for 8 roles in a dance chorus. The characters bare their souls through song and dance as the director attempts to find out who they truly are.
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