The housemates and I went to see A Chorus Line tonight at the Curran Theatre. I’ve never seen the movie, however I did pit orchestra in the show in Boston (ok ok it was the Quincy Community Theatre). In our production, surprisingly, all the folks were pretty fantastic singers. And for a fun twist, Reggie was a girl, and she stopped the show every time she opened her mouth. I got into a faggy pushing fight with the musical director (The very definition of an English Git), everyone slept with everyone else, and good times were had by all.

The 2006 production of A Chorus Line is a really great production, but the standout was Mara Davi as Maggie. She brought down the house leading At the Ballet which got off to a rocky start—Sheila sang about 1/4 tone flat consistently throughout the show (except when Mara brought her up in the trio), but since she’s dance 10 and looks 10, and her bitchy delivery was flawless, she could get away with it. I’ll be a tad catty and say that while Cassie is a *dancer* (and a dancer dances) could use some voice lessons. She was practically barking Music and the Mirror between competent dance moves.

As always, the ending was… TOO FUCKING LONG. It’s fine having everyone step out individually for their bows, but then it repeats. and repeats. and REPEATS. The uncomfortable anticipation of the audience waiting for the dancers to do something interesting to merit applause and break the silence is… uncomfortable.
We also noted that some of the cultural references are getting really stale. As someone put it “If George Hamilton wasn’t doing dog biscuit commercials right now, would anyone know who he is?”

I was really really excited to see the show.

Update: I forgot to mention that the orchestra was invisible. I am going to assume they were hidden off somewhere, since this is a proper Broadway revival. There was no place for an orchestra pit. I saw Rent last month (Thanks Chetchez!) at the Golden Gate theatre and there was no pit there either (Non issue for that show. The band is installed on the stage)…

I will also update my cattiness to include Paul. One of my housemates mentioned they didn’t think he did a great job, and after sleeping on it I completely agree. Paul’s story is heart-breaking when delivered well. In the several performances I did I cried every time. This guy didn’t move me.