Michael Bennett's choreography for A Chorus Line

You are wrong, OP.

I agree with you OP, I find the stage show's choreography underwhelming. I know a lot of people hated the film version, but I thought the dancing in the film was incredible. The final number is a bore onstage, although when done well, it is impressive to view the all in sync. There's nothing terribly interesting or advanced about the movement. I liked how the film's finale turned it into a massive production number with high kicks and complex formations of dancers moving about, making it generally more visually stimulating and impressive. The stage version is basically bunch of prancing about with a few gimmicky patterns. I have no doubt that was Bennett's vision, and I can respect his choices, but I always found the dancing in the stage show boring.

But the finale is supposed to be bunch of dancers deliberately fading into the background so as not to pull focus from the star, who is supposedly there but not seen. It's a tribute to their craft. They are supposed to be good without standing out. More adventurous steps would miss the point. That's all explicitly stated at various points in the script. Cassie doesn't belong in the line because she stands out and in previews she didn't make the cut.

Isn't the "Music and the Mirror" choreography by Donna McKechnie.

Don't most "A Chorus Line" performers talk about the difficulty of dancing in the show when they spend most of the time standing on the line? They warm up before the show but the story of the show undoes their effort to a significant degree. If the choreography was bigger and more challenging, they might have even more difficulty, no?

R4 Donna’s long limbs made him.

The Music and the Mirror choreography was frequently modified or expanded over the years to accommodate the individual talents of the performer. Reinking didn't do the same steps and movement as McKechnie.

I think most dancers fortunate enough to land a role in the show treasure it. It’s the rare show that’s about the dancers vs them being secondary. And they relate to the stories of their struggles.

I am trying to imagine the kind of person who would find Bennett’s choreography boring. There has got to be a basement and many emptied Cheeto bags involved.

R3 as cliched as it sounds, I really never thought about it from that point of view. I'm even more embarrassed by that because I've been in the show twice (although I was really young and wasn't thinking about these kinds of topics). Thanks for that. It actually does make a lot of sense why the dancing is a lot less showy (although I do realize a lot of the solo numbers showcase more athletic dancing). And I never once thought that the final number as a a group of background dance to an unseen star; the lyrics even suggest that. I totally stand corrected. Love when that happens! Thanks for the insight.

With that said, I still think dancing is boring and repetitive

Bennett's talent was more about staging rather than choreography. The brilliance of A Chorus Line is how he used movie techniques on stage. He did the same with Dreamgirls, brilliant staging but not really much choreography.

A Chorus Line looks best when you sit in the balcony. Looking down on the stage patterns that the dancers make is thrilling.

Donna McKechnie has said that the best dancer of "Music and the Mirror" was Bennett himself.

And I agree with the poster above who said the dancers are supposed to blend in. They are the chorus line for a big star so their dancing has been reined in. Watch those old 1940s musicals and you see the men in tuxes and top hats really aren't doing a lot of fancy steps. But I also agree with the other poster about "Music & the Mirror." Cassie is supposed to be the best dancer there, but we really don't see it in "M&TM". It does seem to be a lot of arm flailing and posing. I think Phyllis in Follies has more interesting choreography than Cassie.

It's better when you can stare at Ross Lynch's ass during the dancing.

Unattractive cast rehearses.

There are a couple of books about the creation of A Chorus Line that put a lot of this in perspective.

Part of what made CL so revolutionary was that it used techniques that had only been seen in downtown avant-garde theater (devising the piece from autobiography and documentary tapes) uptown. This started a pattern of Broadway musicals looking to small cutting edge performance for techniques that could be popularized.

R10, these books also talk about "One." To emphasize that the hard working chorus makes the star look good, at one point, Bennett thought of selecting an audience member to play the role of the star that the chorus supports in One. So a no talent would be out front while the performers we watched all night become a faceless wedge.

Ann Reinking said that you don't have to be a dancer to be in ACL, except for Cassie. Robbie Fairchild will dance the role better than anyone else and it's still boring. There's shockingly little insight into the character and it's all running, backbends and arm waving. The end sequence where she runs backwards with her hands outstretched was done better in Sweet Charity because it was used as a transition, not a finale.

Arlene Croce aptly noted that the choreography was frantic and unfocused and the number was the biggest letdown in the show. She then jabbed that Zak didn't want to get stuck making up dance steps and the choreography in this show proves what a dismal future that would be.

Why do they often cast flat-chested women for the tits and ass song?

Fosse said he would have directed the movie version of ACL but he wasn't asked. I can see it now. The finale done with derbies. BTW, did you know Bennett wanted the finale to be done in RED? Theoni talked him into the champagne.

[quote]BTW, did you know Bennett wanted the finale to be done in RED?

Then Cassie would have had to change her outfit.

Here’s an edited clip of Laurie Gamache - one of my favorite “Cassies”, in the “Mirrors” number. This was filmed by an audience member on the closing night of the original Broadway run in1990. It is also the last performance of Laurie’s two-year run playing Cassie. Two years! Very emotional evening for Laurie, the Company, and the audience. The audience is psyched, and Laurie’s performance is technically amazing. Other Cassie faves: of course Donna M, Wanda Richards, Cheryl Clark, and Charlotte DAmboise. Enjoy

[quote]There are a couple of books about the creation of A Chorus Line that put a lot of this in perspective.

I highly recommend Every Little Step, the documentary that's partially history, but mostly follows the casting process for the revival. There's this fascinating bit where one of the candidates for Sheila, who'd been doing gangbusters throughout the process, goes in for her final audition and just BLOWS it.

If they had a Dance Retrospective for Jerome Robbins & Bob Fosse as its own Broadway Show

You'd think someone would think to do one for Michael Bennett?

btw Michael Bennett is from BUFFALO - absolutely shameful the city has NOT named a street after him!

THANK YOU!!! This has driven me nuts for decades. I saw one of the National tours, I never understood the lack of dancing in a show about dancers! No one danced except for Cassie’s big number. Otherwise the cast just stood there and sang, or moved a little in time to the music.

R19 - you sure that was "filmed by an audience member"? That appears to be professionally captured from multiple angles. It's funny, I've only seen bad bootlegs of that number before and felt just as the OP did -- this supposedly iconic number feels so uninspired. BUT, I will say, seeing this better quality version allows me to appreciate the staging, if not the choreography. I can see why it could be a thrilling number in the theatre because of the staging with the drama of the mirrors and the lighting. But without that cinematic staging, I'm not sure the choreography itself is anything special.

Wasn't the woman who plays Emily Gilmore in the original cast?

Yes, it’s a show about dancers, but it’s also is a show about the emotions, passions, and struggles these actors endured from their early private lives, to the stage. It’s a show about one’s psyche and burning desire to Get That Part. A very personal and emotional experience that is easily relatable to anyone in the business, as attested in “Every Little Step”.

Music and the Mirror stopped the show for 15 years on Broadway yet OP knows better.

What an ego.

OP=Sir Richard Attenborough

R26 - Truth!

OP’s pain from consistent rejection in show biz has left him jaded and somewhat out of touch.

R19 & R25

Arlene Croce in The New Yorker: Cassie's big number, where she tries to show Zach what she can do if given the chance, is one of the biggest letdowns in the show. The choreography is frantic and unfocused and McKechnie, who has the most evenly developed technique in the company, can't show what she can do. The columnar neck, firm uplifted torso, clear waist and long legs which look so lovely when she's standing still are never brought into play in the dance and she tightens her back in the phrasing.

Do you prefer Let Me Dance for You?

Croce was a dance critic. While her opinions may reflect the dance world they do not jive with what was appreciated on Broadway for so many years.

Croce was arguably the greatest dancer critic of her generation as well as one of the best critics in any genre. In terms of reviews of her own book "Afterimages" which contained her pans on both ACL and Chicago, these were some of the remarks:

This anti-sentimental muscularity makes Croce the ideal appraiser of loose-limbed Tharp (though Tharp's outdoor Medley evokes the book's gentlest moment), and her credentials as a non-condescending celebrant of more ""popular"" dance forms (the stunning Astaire & Rogers Book and an essay here on ""Dance in Film"") make her the ideal exposer of the dreary dancing in Broadway's Chorus Line and Chicago

and it precisely because she is an aristocrat rather than snob that she can then hit hard at the overrated pretentions to dance drama in “A Chorus Line” and at the crippling pervasiveness on Broadway of the Bob Fosse dance style.

And Croce always said the greatest show she ever saw was Gypsy.

whatever r32. You're right and all the people who have seen and loved A Chorus Line and Chicago are wrong.

R33, ooooh, great comeback. Go back to TWoP. Whatever.

how about you're a pedantic MARY!

and TWoP went out of business years ago.

R35, not too subtle, are you? That was the point. But thanks for playing.

MATM was one of three songs written for Cassie. The other two were Inside the Music which McKechnie performs in her nightclub act and the other was Let Me Dance for you. MATM went through some fairly substantial changes. The most substantial was it was originally done with four male dancers. Similar to the record breaking performance. It was well received but McKechnie apparently was uncomfortable dancing with others so they were cut. Cliento was especially upset,. You can also hear some very different music in the bootlegs of the early performances.

McKechnie claims she choreographed the number herself. I don't know why she'd want to admit that, but that's what she says.

R4 - “ Isn't the "Music and the Mirror" choreography by Donna McKechnie.”

It was a collaboration between Donna and Michael, and tailored to fit Donna’s dancing strengths.