Supporting the Arts in Western Massachusetts and Beyond

March 26, 2009

A Chorus Line

The Bushnell, Hartford, CT
through March 29
by R.E. Smith

This is one show had slipped off the musical theatre radar of many people. This reviewer remembers it as being fairly downbeat, and the soundtrack was certainly never purchased. This is not an effects laden musical like "Phantom" or sing-along like "Joseph." That said, the touring company of "A Chorus Line" was so passionate and professional that it prompted a reevaluation.

Seventeen Broadway dancers assemble on stage to audition for a musical. The director only needs eight performers and so he interrogates each one in turn, to discover their motivations and passions for theatre and dance. here is humor and hope, but an undercurrent of pathos is always there as each archetype faces his or her hopes, dreams and fears.

It is truly an ensemble show, with some numbers starting off as what seem to be solos but eventually blending into company pieces. Musicals like "Jesus Christ Superstar" seem so of-their-time and there is no mistaking the decade in which the music was composed. But the score by Marvin Hamlisch, is relatively timeless. "What I Did For Love" turns up with a true freshness, far removed from the endless lite-radio play it received 25 years ago. This is the second standout song delivered by Gabrielle Ruiz (Diana) in the show, the other being "Nothing." Forget the flashier characters; Diana is the real backbone of the show. While all the characters have reasons to be passionate about dancing (escape, fulfillment, vanity, money) Diana truly makes no excuses and expects no quarter in her devotion to the theatre.

A few moments stretch on just a touch too long, as if someone created a great workshop monologue and couldn't bear to edit it down. But then there is the dancing, in any number of styles, which drives the narrative along, expressing as much about the characters as the dialogue. "A Chorus Line" helps illuminate why some people have no choice but to heed the siren call of fickle lady theatre.