![the chorus line one the chorus line one](https://assets.londonist.com/uploads/2013/02/i640/a-chorus-line-at-the-london-palladium-photo-by-manuel-harlan.jpg)
Sheila (Paige Faure) is still a cynical queen who deserves her own constant spotlight. The authenticity of the dancers’ stories still has the power to move and occasionally bring a few tears to even the most jaded critics, and this TUTS cast lives up to that material. The prizes for those types of competitions are to become the winner, the One, not just one more member of the ensemble. Yet even with this now very familiar format, Chorus Line remains unique. Some of the stories from the Chorus Line dancers, though likely gritty and raw when sung for a mid-70s Broadway audience, probably wouldn’t even rate a raised eyebrow on a genteel British baking contest program in 2019, never mind a competitive drag, Orwellian housemate or dating show. The show doesn’t give a in-world reason why these stories of their adolescences, parental relationships and occasional their most private memories are essential for the casting process, but each question comes with the implicit threat: no true story, no job.Īnd this is the part where the most innovative and original can become a bit ordinary 44 years later, when the confessional has become the primal stuff of our “reality” competition entertainment viewing. Zach removes his real self from the stage early into the show to become just a voice from on high, a directing deity commanding personal confessions from each dancer. He’s looking for dancers who can move as one so their individual selves become subsumed within the ensemble, yet to get the job they must reveal their real selves as individuals. The intentional paradox of Chorus Line has always been that Zach is at cross purposes with himself.
![the chorus line one the chorus line one](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DEIxVqoCB_s/Tg8ElVMW0GI/AAAAAAAAAac/hHYsRdmtkpg/s1600/Chorus+Line.jpg)
![the chorus line one the chorus line one](https://thecatskillchronicle.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/acl01a.jpg)
He wants them to reveal stories of who they are for his perusal, in a way to give his line a metaphorical three dimensions. But in his quest for the line, Zach asks his dancers to go beyond their dancing talent and technical prowess. He wants a line that will “frame” the star, the “One, singular sensation” as the show-topping song goes. Set during the casting of a Broadway musical, director/choreographer Zach (Clifton Samuels) is looking to find his perfect–meaning perfectly in sync–chorus line of four women and four men for the show. Tiffany Chalothorn as “Connie” and the Cast of the current TUTS production of A Chorus Line.Īn intrinsic element that made the show so revolutionary comes from the narrative structure.