By Pam Harbaugh, FloridaTheaterOnStage.com, for SouthFloridaReporter.com, Jan. 10, 2015 – VERO BEACH — There’s more than one singular sensation in Riverside Theatre’s thrilling production of A Chorus Line.
The professional theater takes that heady combination of Michael Bennett’s choreography and Marvin Hamlisch’s music and to that adds a cast brimming with talent and production values polished to a high sheen. The result is the realization that although A Chorus Line is 40 years old, it’s got legs up to here.
The storyline is a powerful one: It concerns the physical and emotional toll inflicted on professional dancers auditioning for a handful of jobs in a musical. But we go to see A Chorus Line for one thing, the dancing. And that’s what you get. From the first “… 5, 6, 7, 8” the show gathers momentum and does not stop until the house lights come on.
In the process, we get to know the dancers’ compelling personal stories — all human, and all believable. We end up caring about each one.
The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning musical, which has book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante and lyrics byEdward Kleban, began as actual recorded sessions during which a group of real life dancers shared their audition experiences. One of those dancers was Mitzi Hamilton, who danced in the Broadway and London productions and now serves as director/choreographer of Riverside’s production.
