Top Broadway show features performing arts students
Published on 04 October, 2006
CQU's Rockhampton-based performing arts students will present the top Broadway show 'A Chorus Line' at the city's Pilbeam Theatre in October.
There will be 7.30pm performances on October 13 and 14 (Friday and Saturday nights) and a 2pm matinee on the Saturday.
This production is directed and choreographed by industry mentors Wayne Scott Kermond ('Singin’ in the Rain') and Katie Kermond ('Chicago' – Australian Cast).
The musical is based on two taped sessions with Broadway dancers, including 8 of the actors/actresses of the original Broadway cast.
With 19 main characters, the setting is a Broadway theatre where young dancers audition for the part in the chorus line of a musical.
The show gives a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers.
Highlights include the songs 'One', 'Nothing', 'The Music and the Mirror' and 'What I Did For Love'.
'A Chorus Line' received 12 nominations for the Tony Awards in 1975, winning 9: Best Musical, Best Actress (Donna McKechnie), Best Featured Actor (Sammy Williams), Best Featured Actress (Carole Bishop), Best Director (Michael Bennett), Best Musical Book(Dante and Kirkwood), Best Score (Hamlisch and Kleban), Best Lighting design (Tharon Musser) and Best Choreographer (Michael Bennett and Bob Avian). It also won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for drama, one of the few musicals ever to receive this honour.
Admission prices for the Pilbeam Theatre performances are adults $20, pensioner/student $15 and children $10. There is a special family discount of $60 for two adults and two children. Bookings are via the theatre on 4927 4111.
'A Chorus Line' opened at the Shubert Theatre on July 25, 1975 and closed there April 28, 1990 after 6137 performances.
It held the distinction of being the longest running show on Broadway until it was surpassed by 'Cats' in 1997 and 'The Phantom of the Opera' in 2006, and currently holds the record for the 4th longest-running musical, after 'Phantom of the Opera', 'Cats' and 'Les Miserables' (in that order).
The original show was conceived, directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett, with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban. The book was assembled by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante (and script-doctored by Neil Simon).