Whether you are a new Fred Astaire or blessed with two left feet, you are primed to get the urge to dance if you waltz or two step your way to Goodspeed Musicals for a healthy and hearty dose of their current dance card offering of “A Chorus Line” in all its super powered splendor for its 50th Anniversary spectacular extended until November 2.
5, 6, 7, 8 and step, kick, kick, touch, pivot, step, combination, and smile. Grab your leggings and leotard and join the group of hopefuls as they audition for a new Broadway musical. With pleas to God to help them "get this job," watch a talented troupe of dancers exuberantly strut their stuff with pride.
If you have ever put your heart on the line, whether it’s to make the cut for a baseball league, earn a part in a high school musical, a spot on the cheer leading squad or a place in the school band, you know the fear and excitement that fills you as your turn in the spotlight comes. If the tryout, interview or audition is for employment, then the stakes are ratcheted up a few hundred notches.
Imagine “So You Think You Can Dance” meeting The Miss America Pageant and you have an idea of the message in “A Chorus Line,” a musical that has garnered nine Tony Awards, five Drama Desks as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This long running musical will be kicking up its classy heels at Goodspeed Musicals and you will want to be there for every passionate step.
Conceived in 1974 by Michael Bennett, with book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban and choreography by Michael Bennett and Bob Avian, “A Chorus Line” takes you directly into the hearts, minds and pits of the stomach of seventeen wannabe Broadway dancers at one of the most important auditions of their young careers.
Come meet Caroline Kane as Judy, Diego Guevara as Paul, Patrick Higgins as Mark, Alex Drost as Al, Jonah Nash as Richie, Sammy Schechter as Greg, Beatrice Howell as Val, Aaron Patrick Craven as Don, Haley Bjorn as Kristine, Travante S. Baker as Larry, Ryan Mulvaney as Bobby, Lisa Finegold as Bebe, Mikaela Secada as Diana, Mario Rizzi as Mike, Liesie Kelly as Maggie, Emma X. O’Loughlin as Connie, and Scarlett Walker as Sheila.
These hopefuls not only have to prove they can strut and kick, they must also reveal themselves. Brassy or bubbly, insecure or comic, they are asked by the director Zach, a caring and focused Clifton Samuels, to tell all about their background, family, hopes, dreams and fears. The past history between Zach and Karli Dinardo as Cassie, who is begging Zach for a chance, is revealed in all its dramatic splendor. In the process, we learn who they are as the eager seventeen, who have already been hand picked from hundreds, are whittled down to the fortunate eight, the four boys and four girls who will comprise the chorus line of the brand new show. You’ll find yourself rooting for your personal favorites to make the cut. Rob Ruggiero directs this intimate portrait of dancers revealing their souls and their passions, in songs like “I Hope I Get It.” “I Can Do That,” “The Music and the Mirror,” “What I Did For Love” and “One."
For tickets ($47-88), call the Goodspeed Musicals , 6 Main Street, East Haddam at 860-873-8664 or online at Goodspeed.org. Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m.and select 2 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. and select 6:30 p.m.
Join the millions from Sweden to Switzerland to Singapore, Argentina to Australia to Austria, Norway to the Netherlands to New Zealand, who have thrilled at the transformation of a handful of really, really wannabes into “singular sensations."
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