A Chorus Line is a proper musical. It has glittery top hats and everything. Yet it is unlike any other musical since it shows the ugly side of its own business – the gritty side of the auditions, the struggles, the rejections – with tinges of both sadness and excitement.
This is the first time A Chorus Line has been staged in the West End since 1976, so it’s got tongues wagging and not just because an ex-Eastender is headlining. With Bob Avian directing (who worked on the original production), this revival is flawlessly faithful to the original but seems absolutely contemporary. I guess in the world of show business, some stories never grow old. And neither does the art itself; these performers are required to sing and dance and act and take your breath away, all at the same time. Michael Bennett’s tale introduces us to seventeen struggling stars auditioning for roles in a new show under director Zach. They are put through their paces with Bennett’s fiendish choreography, displaying contemporary, tap and balletic prowess accompanied by Marvin Hamlisch’s score, which contains instantly recognizable numbers such as ‘What I Did For Love’ and ‘One.’ It is a marked sadness that Hamlisch, who only died last year, didn’t live to see this exuberant revival.
Zach is played by John Partridge (of Rum Tum Tugger fame and East End notoriety), who bosses the hopefuls about, maintaining a Great and Powerful Oz-like presence by interviewing those on the stage from the auditorium, prompting them to divulge their backgrounds, their secrets, motivations and frustrations. His slow, deep voice is surprisingly evocative, but you will be longing for him to get back up onstage since his dancing (shown when he demonstrates routines during the auditions) has such energy and command that it sends shivers down your spine.
There isn’t really a main female lead per se but, if it’s anyone, it’s Cassie, played by the incomparable Scarlett Strallen, who has already earned her stripes in Singin’ in the Rain, Mary Poppins and lord knows what else. Here, she dons a simple red leotard and auditions along with the rest, though it turns out that Cassie was once headed for the big time but couldn’t quite make it and so is back trying out for the chorus line and, humiliatingly, vying for the attention of ex-boyfriend Zach. Strallen has electricity running through her. The moves pump through her veins and she has a fluidity that makes every step, every extension seem like a part of her very being. Cassie’s solo, ‘The Music and the Mirror’ is long and tough but Strallen gives her absolute all to it, as though possessed, and this sight of a dancer longing, pleading to be allowed to go back to what she loves, is heart-stopping.
I say that there is no lead because that is the story’s great paradox – the uniqueness of each dancer mixed with the necessary uniformity of the chorus line. Cassie is berated for being too good and having higher kicks than anyone else because a chorus line must be seamless, but each and every character is celebrated and given time to tell their story, thus championing their individuality and highlighting the personal battles that have got them to the very stage they stand on. Watch out for Sheila (the old pro hoping not to break a nail to land yet another paltry role, played by Leigh Zimmerman with hilarious poise), Diana (husky and street, played by the fabulous Victoria Hamilton-Barritt) and Paul (a young hopeful who braved drag just to get a chance to dance – the heartbreaking Gary Wood).
The London Palladium was one of only a handful of London theatres that could accommodate the length of the full chorus line in all its glory and it certainly lives up to expectations. From the bright red-coated ushers waiting to greet you on arrival to the razzmatazz in the auditorium itself, the show is breathlessly exciting. The final number, ‘One,’ is accompanied by almost incontrollable applause from the audience. Annoying? No, you’ll be pounding your palms together like the rest of the smitten, electrified bunch of talentless onlookers.
A Chorus Line at the London Palladium, Argyll Street, W1F 7TF, booking until January 2014. For more information and tickets visit the website.
