A Chorus Line - Sadlers Wells Theatre from the Curve, Leicester

[Henry]

The Creatives list 

Conceived & Originally Directed & Choreographed by Michael Bennett
Co-choreographed by Bob Avian
Choreographer Ellen Kane

so I am not sure exactly how much of the choreography to attribute to each person.  Ellen Kane is a new name to me.  Checking her website shows an impressive CV.  

https://ellenkane.co.uk/

Much seemed familiar - but I'm not sure if Ms Kane has just  been good at capturing the style or if there is much of the original left.  It definitely works.  

 

The stage presents itself as a bare stage.  The scenery & sets are designed to not look like scenery & sets.  The lighting is often important - so there is some use of the perennial haze machines.  In the old days there were no haze machines.  It was cigarette smoke. 

A Chorus Line was first done on Broadway in 1975 and in London the year after.  I wasn't sure how well it would look 50 years on.  Would the dialogue & sentiments still work?  I think they have made a good decision.  They have left it as a period piece.  The curtain goes up on flared trousers, leg warmers, head sweat bands.  The variety of out of date clothes, looks like the costumer supervisor has been shopping in Oxfam.  Adam Cooper as Zach looks like David Soul in the TV cop series "Starsky & Hutch" - think Bjorn Borg, Olivia Newton John in "Let's Get Physical".  The telephone on Zach's desk has a mechanical dial.  You don't question the attitudes, the sentiments.  You accept it as it is, a piece from the 1970s.  

There are quite a few artworks that would have benefited from the same treatment.  Instead of having the revisions of later times foisted on them, accept that that was how things were then.  

The only obvious addition/ updating to the staging is an on-stage videographer with simultaneous tranmission on to a screen.  When the focus is one individual's story, this works. 

All of the cast are good performers.  Some weren't technically great dancers.  I felt that for this particular musical, they should be great dancers.  This musical is about dancers lives.  There were some of the cast that I felt were cast for their strengths as singers & performers.  If you are there for the show rather than the dancing, you will have a good time.  The energy & commitment from a physically diverse cast (no corps de ballet, no Rockettes line up here - these are real people) come in great waves across the audience from the stage. 

Adam Cooper's career gives him an authority & authenticity in this role, that a better actor wouldn't have.  He is great casting.  Plus, even now, I think he still brings an audience to a stage, Sadlers' Wells, that is maybe more a home to him than the Royal Opera House.  

The finale could have been lifted from "Britain's Got Talent" (to my disappointment).  Fireworks, glitter and a standing ovation.  Ah well.  

Go & see it.  You will have a great time.  1 hour 50 minutes with no intermission - perfect for a warm summer evening. 

 

Edited July 31, 2024 by Henry

[alison]

Darn, sadler's wells not selling ice creams again, then?

[Bruce Wall]

Thanks for the above review, @Henry.  Saw it this evening as well.  Sadly, not a patch on the original - which remains vivid in my mind.  Original performers like Donna McKechnie (so deserving of that Tony Award), the sadly late Robert Lupone, Wayne Cilento, Pricilla Lopez and most especially the equally late Sammy Williams (another Tony winner for his depiction) who was oh, so entirely  moving.  They are now the stuff of legend and, of course, much of the material heard even now was built on their own personal stories.   Still this local production does seem - or so it appeared with the number of people around me avidly filming segments - to here be applicable to this audience.  Sir Alistair knows his own dedicated congregation well and continues to uniquely serve them as only he can.  Certainly every seat was filled.  

In terms of the performances I agree with the comment about the standard of some of the dancers.  (SO missed the lush choreography Bennett created for McKechnie in The Music & The Mirror). Didn't feel either the singing or acting (Cooper was by some distance the best) was particularly notable either.  What shocked me most noticeably were some of the accents.  Some (and I'm sure this was unintentional) border on being insulting to the cultural constituents they represent.  Worse:  there is one woman who is totally incomprehensible and who insists on screaming/screeching throughout.  That this situation had been allowed to occur at Sadler's Wells following on from the Curve presentation I find really quite astonishing.  I had expected the level to be higher certainly.  Again, that said, the core power of the show worked its magic and the audience brayed in a fashion akin to those echoes of audiences past.    

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2024 by Bruce Wall

[Geoff]

Thanks for the comments so far. This was such an iconic show in the 1970s, lost count of the number of times I saw it, London as well as New York. Not sure I can face a cheap provincial version, with dodgy dancing and Equity “American” accents. Particularly as no interval escape is possible. 
 

Hard-nosed reports welcome to help make up my mind. 

[Pas de Quatre]

Thank you for this, like Geoff I saw the original (only London), so will give this production a miss. Also that length without an interval and the opportunity to walk about is just unacceptable.  No theatre seats are that comfortable!

[Silke H]

11 hours ago, Henry said:

All of the cast are good performers.  Some weren't technically great dancers.  I felt that for this particular musical, they should be great dancers.  This musical is about dancers lives.  If you are there for the show rather than the dancing, you will have a good time.

Adam Cooper's career gives him an authority & authenticity in this role, that a better actor wouldn't have.  He is great casting.

I totally agree with this.

 

11 hours ago, Henry said:

The only obvious addition/ updating to the staging is an on-stage videographer with simultaneous transmission on to a screen.  When the focus is on individual's story, this works. 

Sadly this didn't work when sitting in the second circle as the projection screen was mostly obscured by the lighting rigs.  Also, the transmission was delayed. So, when I managed to catch a glimpse, the video not matching the audio was distracting.

 

9 hours ago, Bruce Wall said:

Worse:  there is one woman who is totally incomprehensible and who insists on screaming/screeching throughout.

She really bugged me too.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the evening and am glad I caught the show, though not to the point of having to see it again.

[San Perregrino]

An enjoyable rather than memorable evening.  

This was, I believe, a preview and as such difficult to judge how it will differ in its final presentation. Based on what I saw,  I felt that it wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Definitely room for notes after the performance. I was told that press night is 2nd August. 
I did come away questioning some of the casting choices. Performances were uneven and it was hard to believe some of the characterisations. The show contains some outstanding songs and it was good to hear them brought to life. That said, I didn’t get shivers down my spine nor raised hairs on the back of my neck. 
 

Trivia: the part of Bobby Mills is interpreted with great nuance and relish by Toby Seddon ex Royal Ballet School. Great to see him following his dreams. 

[Sim]

I am seeing this on the 9th.  My father and I went to see it in the West End in the 80s, and it is one of the only times in my life that I have walked out of anything.  We both thought it was schmaltzy and boring.  So I am not particularly looking forward to seeing it again (a friend kindly surprised me with a ticket as an early birthday present, and gave me about five months' notice, so no excuse not to go!!).  Anyway, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised this time....

[Emeralds]

I saw the Broadway record-setting (at the time) long run of the original production with the original Michael Bennett and Bob Avian choreography in the 1980s and although I was quite young I did remember some memorable parts (the ensemble singing "I Hope I Get It", Mike's  dancing and singing to "I Can Do That", the three women singing "....everything was beautiful- at the ballet...." and of the course the spectacular finale). It became one of my favourite musicals because of how brilliant the performances were and the power of the original story. 

 

My parents actually bought a souvenir from the theatre of a book with the songs (score for piano and lyrics) for us- no T shirts or keyrings! When I saw the movie with Michael Douglas as Zach, I didn't really like the film version as much as the stage production I'd seen although the dancers were very good. I've never seen the London production. I think the right cast and revival director does make a huge difference to stop it looking twee or as members have noted above the wrong accents (and manner of speaking) can make the character look and sound wrong. NB there is humour, but it mustn't be hammed up or look like parody or mockery of the characters' cultural backgrounds. 

 

At first I wasn't going to get tickets (didn't feel anything could match the standard of the original) but when I saw Adam Cooper's name in the cast, I thought I'd give it a chance so I bought 2 tickets - one for me and one for a friend who's never seen it. I must admit the initial social media videos I've seen have not inspired much confidence-  it did bother me that some cast members did not look like dancers (which is essential if a) they are portraying dancers, b) in the world of musical theatre it should not be difficult to find dancers who can sing and act, as opposed to actors who have learnt some steps).

 

Also not a fan of the alterations they've made to the women's costumes in the Finale,  and the use of video/screens, which is a big change to the original Kirkwood and Dante story. The point of the original was that the characters are dancers in the chorus. The fact that you can't see their faces in close up but the power of their stories is conveyed when they speak,  sing and dance- that's the whole point of the show. They will always be anonymous and only partially seen- that's their life, despite having great talent (this point somewhat watered down if they can't get all dancers). They're not participants in Britain's Got Talent or American Idol- they will never, ever have the fame of a Susan Boyle. Will Young or Adam Lambert.

 

And that's what made that Broadway production powerful because their faces, were seldom in the spotlight, yet you could see them well when they danced or sang.  When they came out in the Finale (the song "One").the lights are turned up to the full for the fictional show number and you can see each face brightly lit, smiley, glamorous and no longer sad or

downtrodden, yet, in their uniformly glamorous costumes, stunning but more difficult to distinguish from one another. It's both genius in the contrast as well as the paradox.

 

The other major change is that the show has Zach as a lead character dancing and acting on stage but in the original the audience is not supposed to see Zach at all, which underlines how much power the director over the dancers - he can scrutinise them but they can't see him as well as he can see them. 

 

I'm a bit torn as to whether to see it now (I don't really want my friend to see only a flawed  reboot of A Chorus Line!) but I do want to see Adam Cooper whom I haven't seen on stage for a long time. I'm so relieved they kept the 1970s setting. I'll wait and see what the reports after opening night say. Also am a bit baffled about why no interval with a long show - the original had one.

Edited August 2, 2024 by Emeralds

[Fonty]

I never saw the original production but I did see one  in London in 2013.  It starred Scarlett Strallen, who is, I believe, the niece of Bonnie Langford.  Just looked it up, and apparently the original choreographer was involved.  I never liked the film very much, but I did enjoy the stage production.  I went with a friend who had seen the original stage show, and they said it didn't seem to come to life in the same way the original did.  However, the dancers were very good, and the final number was great.  

[Geoff]

So far the press has been enthusiastic (press night was last night). Daily Telegraph and Time Out four stars, the rest that I can find (more obscure publications) universally five stars. No mentions that I can see of dodgy accents or poor dancing (many don’t approve of the videography gimmick). Hm. 

[Emeralds]

On 02/08/2024 at 15:12, Fonty said:

I never saw the original production but I did see one  in London in 2013.  It starred Scarlett Strallen.

I'm sad I couldn't get to the 2013 production now, @Fonty! Scarlett Strallen is incredible- an actress who is an outstanding dancer with an astonishing classical voice (she could sing operetta- Merry Widow and other Lehar pieces, Gilbert and Sullivan etc);  rare to find both in the same person.

 

(You're right:  Bonnie Langford is the sister of Scarlett's mother, Cherida, herself an actress, singer and dancer. Zizi Strallen, her youngest sister, won acclaim dancing the lead in Matthew Bourne's The Car Man, as well as winning rave notices as Mary Poppins- Scarlett had performed the role in the original run-  in the recent revival of the musical. They also have two sisters, Summer and Saskia, who are also performers- immensely talented family!)

 

I found a clip on YouTube of Scarlett  performing The Music and The Mirror and it looked closer to the original than this production (she was outstanding). I've seen a few more photos of the production posted by Sadler's Wells and a few videos they posted and it does look more like a reboot than a revival. A few costumes are not from the correct 1970s period, and the character of Richie has been changed (in addition to Zach's role being changed). One or two of the songs have also been altered in the way they're performed. Hmm....I'm still thinking about whether to go. 

Edited August 5, 2024 by Emeralds

[alisonruss]

I saw this production towards the end of the week long run at the Lowry, Salford, prior to it going to Sadler's Wells. It is not a recreation of the original production, but a 'reboot', although wisely it is still set in 1970s. I enjoyed it, but then I also wasn't expecting to see the preview of a 'West End production', but another touring musical.

 

As has been mentioned, the cast are great performers, but some are not technically great dancers. What I also realised on this occasion is that a greater proportion of the songs are sung by the female characters. I do wonder if this element affected some of the casting choices for this production. In a piece about dancers, with characters who refer to themselves as dancers and where dance is an essential element, I would personally expect stronger technique and greater dance 'presence' across the cast, 'even' in a touring production.

 

My ear is not attuned to American accents, so I can't comment about them, but I disliked a couple of the wigs, and the transmission of the hand-held camera sequences were frequently out of sync. On the plus side, I thought both the re-orchestration and orchestra sound were much better than most touring musicals. I agree with the positive reviews about the stage design and lighting. The final number still packs a terrific punch.

 

Reading up online, it would seem that the original Broadway production ran without an interval. Whether it was changed for its West End run, I don't know. I didn't buy a programme, but one of the cast did particularly catch my eye: it was Toby Seddon, ex Royal Ballet School and Arts Educational.

 

[Geoff]

Finally slipped into Saturday’s matinee and was pleasurably impressed. Regarding the early discussion here I didn’t catch any dodgy English-actors-trying-to-do-American-accents, nor did I mind variations in dancer skill, which felt appropriate given that the characters are trying out for chorus work (incidentally over the years I have never seen an impressive Cassie, from big name performers to nobodies, so that role seems thankless) My bias may be that unlike some I see this show as all about the wonderful songs rather than the dancing.
 

Like others including many critics I was annoyed by the video work but could position myself so I didn’t have to see this. Apart from one stand out performer (playing Diana) the casting was serviceable rather than exciting, with some a little older than the kind of striving expressed in the text would suggest is appropriate. But all did fine. 
 

The lighting, as others have said, was spectacular. My major gripe was the sound balance. The music was expertly played and well balanced - but the balance between the cast microphones and the music was slightly off, the music too loud, resulting in some lyrics getting buried. A great shame, given how good (and important) the words are. Perhaps the director assumed the show is so familiar everyone knows the words anyway. A misjudgement and no way to treat younger audiences who might be new to the work. 
 

One final criticism, and I would be interested to hear the views of more expert commentators here. The new choreography struck me as successful - apart from the show stopping final number. Some have criticised the fireworks (not in period?) but my problem was with the use of the stage. The number cries out for horizontal work across the stage as the major structural component - the chorus line - but we were given only a little of this, with instead a lot of generic stage filling making up most of the number. But the audience seemed happy and excited, so what do I know. 
 

All in all I had a very good time and was pleased to be there, more for the tremendous show, which showed itself as the modern classic it is, rather than for (most of) the cast. Sold out closing at Sadlers Wells today, then roll on Norwich, Canterbury, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh and High Wycombe. One singular sensation. 
 

Edited August 25, 2024 by Geoff

[Emeralds]

I didn't like the alterations to the choreography that I saw in the video clips the company and Sadler's Wells  posted, so I didn't go, @Geoff. Also, one of our out of town  relatives wanted to have a get together that same day so I returned my tickets (which resold easily as it was for a weekend performance).

 

I suppose for some, A Chorus Line is just one of many musicals, but for me the choreography, dancing and libretto are as important as those for Cranko's Onegin, MacMillan's Manon or Ashton's A Month in the Country, so I'd rather wait to see a production faithful to what Bennett, Kirkwood, Dante, Hamlisch and Avian intended, than to settle for a greatly altered reboot. 

Edited August 25, 2024 by Emeralds