This year is the 50th anniversary year of one of the great Broadway musicals, A CHORUS LINE. To celebrate this milestone, a revival of this terrific musical is the Willoughby Theatre Company’s current production at their home venue, the Concourse at Chatswood.
It is New York. A large group of dancers are gathered to audition to be part of the chorus line in an upcoming Broadway show. Only eight dancers, four women and four men, will end up being chosen. The show will start out of town and then they come back, when all primed, to open on Broadway.
The dancers soon find out that this is not their usual audition. They are used to directors being very matter of fact and judging them entirely on the quality of their dancing. After al, they are just chorus dancers. Not with this director. He does a quasi interview with each of them, wanting to know what makes them tick, what their ‘story’ is. Whilst some of the dancers are happy to share, the approach rattles others. Issues around adolescence, sexuality, dysfunctional familes come up, long before pop psychology came in to play.
James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante’s book engages throughout, and Marvin Hamlish’s lush melodies, assigned poetic lyrics by Edward Kleban, make this a dream musical.
This is a very fine production by the Willoughby Theatre Company. Stig Bell directs confidently with the action moving seamlessly. The work of the design team was well calibrated well, Neil Shotter’s very functional set and minimum props, Stephanie Edmonds pristine choreography, a very impactful lighting design by Matthew Lutt, and terrific costumes (costume co-ordinator Nikole Music). Musical Director Greg Larielle-Jones brilliantly led an excellent orchestra.
The large cast perform the show with passion, even exuberance. Good performers know that, when it comes to time on stage, it is all about being able to express themselves as fully, and as vibrantly, as they can. And this is just what this cast does, singing, dancing and acting their hearts out.
This was a show filled with highlights. To mention just a few. The scene played out for the song ‘At The Ballet’ was a picture in poignancy. ‘Dance Ten Looks Three’ was great fun, and ‘The Music and The Mirror’ was exquisitely performed by Emily Dreyer, who deserved the Bravo calls coming from the audience.
A note to end on. I was fortunate to have seats close to the stage and could see in to the orchestra pit. As the cast were performing the glittering One finale, wth the audience up from their seats, I looked in to the orchestra pit and could see one of the musicians singing along with no fear of being heard above the cast. Good vibes all round.
Well worth enjoying, Willoughby Theatre Company’s productionon of A CHORUS LINE, book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban, and conceived and originally directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett, is playing the Concourse, Chatswood until the 1st June 2025.
http://www.willoughbytheatre.com.au
