A Chorus Line
The
first show of Theatre by the Sea's 77th season
is "A Chorus Line", the 1976 winner of Tony
Award for Best Musical, Best Book and the
Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is a musical based
on the lives and experiences of Broadway
dancers. Original director/choreographer Michael
Bennett wanted to do a show with the spotlight
on the class of performers known as the gypsies.
The action takes place in an empty theatre, on a
bare stage, where the casting for a new Broadway
musical is almost complete. For 15 dancers it is
a chance of a lifetime. It's the one opportunity
to do what they have always dreamed of, not to
be the star but to get a job, to have the chance
to dance. Through a series of interviews, from
funny to heartbreaking, it ushers the audience
into the lives of these dancers until the
final 8 are chosen. The original Broadway show
opened on April 15, 1975 and ran 6,137
performances, closing on April 28, 1990.
Director/choreographer Mitzi Hamilton creates
a wonderful version of this show with her
talented cast and with her energetic and
fabulous choreography as well as the topnotch
musical direction of Andrew Smithson. Together
they create a musical treat to start off their
new season with a bang.
Owner
and producer, Bill Hanney, Producing Artistic
Director Amiee Turner and Managing producer Joel
Kipper spare no expense to bring Broadway style
entertainment to the south coast of RI every
summer. This version of the show is performed
without an intermission. From the opening
montage of ballet, tap and jazz movements to the
final chorus line, the majestic choreography
flows over the audience, one song after the
other. Mitzi does a fabulous job
choreographing this very hard working cast
and is best known for her association with
Michael Bennett's original production of "A
Chorus Line" and provided the inspiration for
the character of Val, playing the character in
the original London and later on
Broadway. Subsequently she went on to recreate
over 35 productions of the show in Europe, the
United States and Asia. on Broadway. She molds
them into brilliant dancers and has them make
the most of the comic moments with some of the
one-liners supplied by an uncredited Neil Simon
as well as the comic songs "Sing" and "Dance
Ten, Looks Three". She also stages the dramatic
moments wonderfully including the confrontation
scene between Zach and Cassie, the touching
monologue by Paul and the emotionally draining
"What I Did For Love". Andrew not only leads
his 7 piece orchestra but plays the
lead keyboards for the show, too. The harmonies
of the cast in their solos, duets and trios are
beautiful to listen to. The many beautiful
costumes are by Marcia Zammerelli who has won
several Motif awards for her costumes the past
few years and most impressive are the finale
costumes and Bobby's hand painted sweater. Hard
working stage manager Robert Miller Jr. keeps
things running smoothly all night long. The
lighting is by Joel E. Silver, the set is by
Kathryne Hecht and the sound by Ryan P. McGinty.
This
talented cast is lead by Tom Berklund as Zach
the director/choreographer of the show within a
show. He played Greg in the revival of this show
on Broadway. His physical presence onstage and
control of them is wonderful as are his
confrontation scene with Cassie and his
consolation scene with Paul. Tom handles the
dramatic and comic scenes marvelously. He also
shows off his fantastic dancing prowess in this
role. Amiee Turner makes her Theatre-by-the Sea
debut in the role of Cassie, Zach's former
girlfriend. However Amiee is no stranger to the
stage, having appeared in six shows on Broadway
and having also directed "Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the Forum", "George M!", "Evita",
"Crazy for You" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" at
TBTS. Zach can't understand why Cassie wants to
return to the chorus line after 10 years and
confronts her about it while Cassie explains her
motives in "The Music and the Mirror". Amiee
stops the show with her solo dance number with
its intensity and her execution of this
beautiful number. It shows off her dancing and
singing prowess, earning her a thunderous
ovation as she exits the stage. Cassie wants the
chance to show Zach that she still has what it
takes to return to Broadway. Larry A. Lozier
Jr.,a fabulous dancer plays Zach's assistant
choreographer, Larry wonderfully. Jennifer Rias
is marvelous as Diana. Her acting prowess comes
through in this role when she displays the many
layers of emotions as this character. Her lovely
singing voice sells the comic song "Nothing"
about her terrible improvisation teacher which
garners her much laughter as well as the emotion
packed anthem of this show "What I Did For Love"
which leaves the audience in tears. The harmonic
blend of the chorus on this number doesn't leave
a dry eye in the theater with its powerful
punch. Yamil DeJesus is Paul who is not only an
excellent dancer but shows off his tenor voice
in "Who am I Anyway?" and gives the monologue a
poignant rendition especially when Tom as Zach
embraces him at its conclusion.
Jonathan Hoover does a topnotch job as Mike
especially with his opening solo number "I Can
Do That'' where the character explains how he
took his sister's shoes to dance class one day
and how he became the dancer in the family. One
of the funniest performers in this show is
Caroline Cuseo as Sheila, the bitchy 30 year old
diva. She has some of Neil Simon's best biting
and cutting one liners. She is a sexy red head
who delivers them in a sultry voice and makes
every one of them hit pay dirt. She also uses
this sexy voice in her singing, too. She, Holly
Laurent as Maggie and Megan Glogower as Bebe
sing "At the Ballet" number which tells about
their tough family life while growing up and how
they escaped from it at dance class. Holly, a
gorgeous brunette has one of the best voices in
this show and she shows off her fantastic
soprano singing voice in this song while Megan
shows off her strong mezzo voice. I
reviewed Holly in "Jesus Christ Superstar"
at NSMT in 2006. (Bill Hanney recently
bought NSMT and is opening it in July.) Another
hilarious role is Val played fantastically
by Emmett Louise Smith, a gorgeous blonde who
sings and dances up a storm in her tits and ass
number called "Dance 10, Looks 3". Her powerful
belting voice soars over the audience and that
partnered with the colorful language of Val,
earns her many laughs in this role. Other comic
roles include Bobby played by Tripp
Hampton whose anecdotes are a hoot including one
where he sprayed a kid with silver paint, Greg
played by Jeremy Bohmstein , who changed his
name because he was Jewish, walked around with a
constant hard-on during puberty and realized he
was gay while feeling a girl's boobs, Judy
played by Jessica Wockenfuss is high energy and
bubbly as the girl who lost her number at the
start of the show and Mark played by Will
Porter who is the youngest auditioner at 20
years old and gets to tell a humorous story
thinking he had gonorrhea when he had a wet
dream at the age of 13. Jake Delaney as Al and
Amanda LaMotte as Kristine are a laugh riot in
the "Sing" number where the audience learns the
Kristine can't sing so Al sings all her answers
in his strong tenor voice while the basketball
playing teacher-to-be, Richie is played by
Tyrick Wiltez Jones who shows off
his dynamite voice and dancing skills during
"Hello 12" which is one of the strongest
ensemble numbers in the show. Congratulations to
everyone who makes this a show to be extremely
proud of. An added perk to opening night
festivities at Bistro by the Sea is Duane and
Karleen Crowe's delicious buffet after the show
which consists of roast ham, meatballs, cheese
and crackers with veggies and chocolate cake.
All the food disappeared quickly.
Be sure to catch "A Chorus Line" before it dances its way out of Matunuck.
A CHORUS LINE ( 2 to 20 June)
Theatre by the Sea, 364 Cards Pond Road, Matunuck, RI
1(401) 782-TKTS or www.theatrebythesea.com