Chorus Line to return to Broadway in 2006

I'm willing to wait until a theatre for the revival of A Chorus Line has been announced. The most recent news story on Playbill's website about the revival is from last March, so I wonder if it's still slated for Broadway this fall.

I'm still trying to get tickets to Spamalot. I've had to revise my plan.

Two trips to NYC last year - no no no Spamalot tickets <unless I was willing to spring over $500 a pop>

Now I'm going to try to get the tickets first, and then book a trip to NYC around the tickets.

Sounds like a good plan.

Simon Russell Beale recently replaced Tim Curry in the show as King Arthur, and there's a new actress playing the Lady of the Lake, but I'm sure the show is still a hoot.

And just to muddy the waters a little more for Beth: it's just been announced that a London production of Spamalot will open in October. I know you love NYC, but there are lots of great photo ops in London, too.

A London Theatre adventure is on my short list for "my 50th birthday present to myself".

If Spamalot runs for a not-too-incredibly long time, but long enough, that could work.

Casting news on A Chorus Line: Charlotte d'Amboise will play Cassie, according to this article in today's New York Times:

A Broadway Survivor Joins 'Chorus Line'
By JESSE McKINLEY

The Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line" planned for the fall has found its Cassie, the hard-luck hoofer at the musical's heart, and the actress who was chosen has more than a little in common with the character. It's Charlotte d'Amboise, the veteran Broadway dancer and actress who took over the lead in a revival of "Sweet Charity" last year when Christina Applegate was injured, only to have Ms. Applegate return to the show just before opening night.

This time, Ms. d'Amboise will have her chance to star, despite a final audition earlier this week that she thought she had flubbed. "I walked out of there, like, 'Oh my God, that was bad,' " she said in a phone interview, recalling her callback on Monday at the Broadhurst Theater.

But Bob Avian, the show's director, said Ms. d'Amboise only confirmed how right she was for the part.

"We've been watching her for 20 years dance, but she's got this great combination of vulnerability and strength," Mr. Avian said in a phone interview late Wednesday. "She's had that roller-coaster career, but she's a survivor. This is her life, and this is what she does."

Along Broadway, Ms. d'Amboise, who is in her early 40's, is considered an accomplished pro. She has performed in many major productions, including "Chicago," "Contact" and "Damn Yankees," though usually as a replacement. It looked as if she would open a show on Broadway when Ms. Applegate broke a bone in her foot during an out-of-town run of "Sweet Charity" last year. But when Ms. Applegate recovered in time for the opening in May, Ms. d'Amboise, as usual, moved on.

The new production of "A Chorus Line," the 1975 hit about a group of aspiring chorus members directed, choreographed and conceived by Michael Bennett, is scheduled to begin rehearsals in June for a July opening in San Francisco before moving to Broadway in the fall. Mr. Avian, who was the co-choreographer of the original production, said that his casting was 80 percent completed and that he had decided on Michael Berresse, most recently in "The Light in the Piazza," to play Zach, Cassie's former lover and the director of the show within the show.

Ms. d'Amboise, who remembers seeing the original as a young dancer, says the chance to step into Cassie's leotard is a dream come true.

"When you're a dancer, and that's what you started off doing, it never gets out of you, no matter what you do," she said. "And to do this role is the epitome of dance on Broadway. There's nothing like that."

I just came to this forum to post this article, but Bree beat me to it. I've been watching her ever since she was an Angel in NYCB,s annual "Nutcracker". She, her brother Chris, and a sister whose name I don't remember all performed. I am anxious to see who else will be in the cast since my greatest pleasures from the show came not from the basic story of Cassie or the big production numbers but from the individual stand alone stories. I have particularly fond recollections of Pamela Blair singing ""Dance Ten, Looks Three" ("Tits and Ass"), Carol (Kelly) Bishop singing "Everything is Beautiful at the Ballet" (That one had the tears pouring down my cheeks) and "Nothing" sung by Priscilla Lopez. The only other show from which I have such vivid memories is Carousel with Bambi Lynn dancing on the sand (my introduction to ballet).

Cool! It sounds like it's really coming together.

I'm interested to know how much of the script will change. I haven't really heard if they're going to leave it set in the 70s or update it. Didn't they make minor script changes in the original run? Perhaps I only saw/heard those in other productions I saw. (I've seen a bunch.)

The wait is over. A Chorus Line will be at the Schoenfeld, according to this article on playbill.com:

A Chorus Line Will Line Up at the Schoenfeld Sept. 18

By Robert Simonson
March 1, 2006

The new revival of A Chorus Line will take possession of Broadway's Schoenfeld Theatre on Sept. 18, it was announced. Official opening is now Oct. 5, a shift from the previously announced Sept. 21.

The show will play a pre-Broadway engagement as San Francisco's Curran Theatre July 23-Sept. 2.

Frequent Chicago star Charlotte d'Amboise and The Light in the Piazza's Michael Berresse will head the cast. Other casting is yet to be announced.

D'Amboise will play Cassie, the down-on-her-luck dancer created in the original production by Tony Award winner Donna McKechnie. Berresse will play Cassie's former lover Zach, who is now the director of the show for which Cassie has come to audition.

In addition to Chicago, Charlotte d'Amboise has starred on Broadway in Contact, Cats, Song and Dance, Carrie, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Damn Yankees, Company and Sweet Charity.

Michael Berresse, who currently stars in The Light in the Piazza, received a Tony nomination for his performance in the revival of Kiss Me, Kate. His other Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Damn Yankees, Carousel, Chicago and The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm.

The revival of A Chorus Line will be directed by Bob Avian, the co-choreographer of the original production, which was helmed by the late Michael Bennett.

A Chorus Line has a book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by the late Edward Kleban, who later became the subject of the show A Class Act.

A Chorus Line began life at Joseph Papp's Public Theater. It is about a collection of Broadway gypsies who tell their stories and reveal their fears as they go through the fraught and trying process of auditioning for the chorus of a new show. It was revolutionary not only for the long workshop process that created the show (and which birthed a workshop ethos which has persisted?-for better or worse?-in nonprofit theatre to this day), but for epitomizing the "concept musical," a genre which began with such Sondheim works as Company and Follies and reached its peak in Line.

The cast included such then-unsung performers as Wayne Cilento, Robert LuPone, Priscilla Lopez, Kelly Bishop (then called Carole Bishop) and Donna McKechnie.

*

A Chorus Line will be produced by the well known and well-connected entertainment lawyer John Breglio, who represented the musical's director-choreographer-conceiver Michael Bennett while he was alive and still handles his estate. Breglio's many theatre clients include Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public Theater, Stephen Sondheim and August Wilson.

The credit will mark Breglio's Broadway producing debut. "I feel like I've tried to guide and help hundreds of producers over the years," Breglio previously told Playbill.com. "This one was sort of inevitable for me. It's the closest thing to me in my career that I've ever done." Breglio and Bennett joined forces in the early '70s. After A Chorus Line, they formed a producing partnership with choreographer Bob Avian and Susan MacNair called Quadrille Productions, though Breglio eventually returned to his practice.

Also participating in the revival will be the show's surviving creators, including Marvin Hamlisch, designer Robin Wagner and Avian, who was billed as "co-choreographer" in the original production. Avian will direct the new mounting. Wagner will recreate the bare-stage-and-mirrors set that characterized the original.

Also teaming with Avian will be original cast member Baayork Lee, who will assist in recreating Bennett's original staging and choreography.

*

The Schoenfeld has been empty since Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life closed Feb. 19. The Chorus Line booking still leaves room for a limited run for another play.

Excellent! I'm glad to hear that the revival is on schedule, well practically.

Which CD shall I be sending you?

mac, I'll pm you with the name of my CD of choice after I've given the matter some thought (after all, an opportunity like this doesn't arrive every day!).

Are you planning to come to NYC to see the revival of A Chorus Line?

I am sorely tempted.

mac, if you're serious about that, consider planning a trip to NYC in the spring of 2007. Rumor has it that that's when a revival of Pal Joey, starring Hugh Jackman, will open on Broadway. If the revival of A Chorus Line is any good, it will still be running then -- and if it isn't, you will have saved yourself the price of a ticket.

Oh, I'm serious. And I will consider it - definitely. Thanks for the scoop!

A CHORUS LINE Announces Complete 2006 Cast

http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=9229



lotsa bios attached

Thanks, ehBeth! I don't recognize any of the names except Charlotte d'Amboise and Michael Berresse, but I'm sure they'll all be fabulous.

So, will you be seeing this revival, bree?

There's a distinct possibility, mac, but I'll probably hold out for a discount offer before I plunk down full price at the box office.

As with Bree, most of the names are unfamiliar to me; but then with the original, I believe the only one I knew was Donna McKechnie. And weren't Priscilla Lopez, Pamela Blair, Carole (Kelly) Bishop, and Wayne Cilento wonderful surprises?

I don't recognize the name Pamela Blair, but I agree about all the other performers you mention, flyboy. And you make a good point -- this revival could be a launching pad for a lot of careers.