I saw A Chorus Line on Broadway sometime before I was ten. All I can remember was that the girl that kept screaming “tits” had grown up in Westport, and that the production was pretty good.
When watching the Staples Players production of A Chorus Line, I can honestly say that I felt as if I was once again in a seat at a Broadway stage.
Maybe this is because I am a sucker for well choreographed and performed group dances, but the crowd’s immediate standing ovation during “One Singular Sensation” can confirm that I was not alone in my awe.
“The audience clearly loved the show with the never ending applause after every number…specifically the ‘Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love’ montage,” added former Staples Player Greg Langstine ’12.
Many of my peers have never exhibited such complex dancing skills, and watching them take on this new role was intriguing, to say the least. This performance used the choreography from the original show, yet the students did not fail to master it. Two days later and I am still reminiscing on the high kicks, dozens of twirls, and great leaps.
Some may have been skeptical coming into the show – how could these teenage kids sound believable when telling complex and foreign life stories? Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the acting in the show was the “realness” of the characters. Each and every character down the line was a real person.
“It wasn’t something that came in the first rehearsal,” said Maddy Rozynek ’14, who plays Bebe Benzenheimer. “Something that Mr. Roth and Kerry really pushed us to do was to incorporate aspects of ourselves into our characters.”
Well, whatever they did, worked because I nearly cried upon hearing many of their heartfelt stories.
Many performers confirmed that they had been running the entire show everyday for over two weeks, but the thrill of performing the show in front of a live audience changes everything. I can imagine that the long pauses for overwhelming applause and the constant roar of laughter would change how the actors felt.
“We were able to feed off of the audiences energy and it brought the show to a whole new level,” said Will Haskell ’14 who plays Mark Anthony.
Although it may be cheesy, just as Diana Morales sings, “the gift was ours to borrow,” the audience’s borrowed gift was watching such organic characters sing, dance, act, and come to life in a beautiful two hour long beautiful chaos.
