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A Chorus Line: The Company on the line in "I Hope I Get It" (National Tour Cast) © Paul Kolnik
When Seattlest was a little girl, our mother rented the film version of A Chorus Line and, in that single theatrical moment, we were transported from little girl-dom straight to an imaginary world where we would grow up to be a chorus girl. As a young dancer, we saw a couple of different productions of the musical, and were always impressed with the athletic, highly demanding choreography. We were intimidated just watching it, imagining ourself growing up to head out to auditions where such incredibly dexterous moves would be demanded of us.
Last night, watching the opening scene of A Chorus Line at the Paramount, we were reminded of how much this particular musical drove us in our former life as a dancer. Starting a show out with those moves is not an easy task. If you don't believe us, try springing from a squat to a leap in a single "and" count.
Seattlest eventually decided not to pursue a career as a dancer, but our inner ballerina lurched and twirled with every athletic moment of the show. A Chorus Line may be a show that deals with topics as complicated as ambition, ego, relationships, sexuality, and religion, but for us it'll always be about the artistic, emotional, and phyiscal demands of a dancer's life and career.
From the first turn-and-hit pose to the personal stories that move the storyline forward, this show has always touched on the variant array of reasons people pursue a life in dance and theater. The cast of this national tour company nails each character, song, and dance number hard. We were most impressed with Morales (Gabrielle Ruiz), whose "Nothing" was the show-stealer song for us, and whose voice hit us square in the chest.
A Chorus Line was first workshopped in 1974, and there are a few interesting moments with mirrors that contemporary musicals could never pull off without looking cheesy. Particularly, the slow-disco moment during Cassie's big solo (which this production's Nikki Snelson absolutely killed). The mirrors turn to give a brief ego-maniacal prismatic effect, before she spins back to the fore for the earnest conclusion, covering more ground in three and-counts than we could manage in a full eight-count. As someone who's playing the most gifted dancer of the bunch, Snelson was exquisitely cast for this solo. Unfortunately, though, we hardly noticed her for the rest of the show. On the line, she was eclipsed by Sheila (Emily Fletcher), Paul (Kevin Santos), and Morales.
But, with that small thing as our only complaint, we have to conclude that the national touring company holds tight to the truth about A Chorus Line: it really is the best musical. Ever.
A Chorus Line runs Aug 5-10 at the Paramount. Tickets start at $28, and showtimes can be found here.
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