For a Broadway musical about Broadway musicals – and in particular the tough life of the rank and file casts – A Chorus Line has had some surprising success since its debut nearly 30 years ago.
This latest revival largely sticks to the original productions framework, with 17 would-be cast members auditioning for parts and revealing some of their darkest secrets as well as their dance moves.
Much of the show’s appeal lies in the fragility of their situation, and the audience’s empathy with their battered dreams. The individual characters gradually bare their souls, only to be subsumed back into the machine of the ensemble.
Manuel Pacific sensitively handles perhaps the most difficult of the back stories – Paul’s tale of childhood abuse and confusion – but there are also great vignettes from Redmance Rance as sister-shoe-stealing Mike, Amy Thornton as jaded Sheila, and Mireia Mambo as potential kindergarten teacher Richie (even if the role’s gender change from the original does confuse the final casting, which is supposed to be “four boys, four girls”).
Alongside the casting is the subtext of the relationship between director Zach (Adam Cooper) and returning dancer Cassie (played on opening night by understudy Laura Hills). The musical’s book doesn’t really do enough to establish and the performances don’t do much to help that: there’s nothing especially wrong here, but no sparkle either.
The staging introduces a video screen used to highlight some of the individual performers, but as with yo-yoing lighting rigs this serves more to distract than to illuminate – it doesn’t integrate with the show, and feels anachronistic given there is no attempt to update various historic showbiz references in the script.
Elements of the choreography feel cramped and suggest the differing stage widths and sightlines that impact a touring production haven’t been fully considered, though when they work there are some enjoyable numbers.
That perhaps is the essence here: as Zach constantly asks of the auditioning cast, what we want to see is truth, but what we get is mostly performance.
- A Chorus Line continues at Norwich Theatre Royal until Saturday 31 August 2024 then touring to Canterbury, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, and High Wycombe.
