And Now For Something Completely Unexpected

I'm not going to write about torture, the CIA, the photographs, or military commissions. I'm not going to write about Dick Cheney, Michael Steele, or what Jeff Sessions is up to. Nancy Pelosi isn't getting a sentence from me.

I'm going to write about "Every Little Step," a heart-wrenching documentary about the casting of the revival of A Chorus Line.

We were six of us who went to see the film last night. All of us had seen the show the first time around. One of the couples, Stu and Ginger (our theater buddies) have a daughter who was a dancer on Broadway, so they understood immediately the vulnerability, passion, commitment, disappointment, and glory of it all. The rest of us quickly joined into the emotional chaos of too many dancers in a room, all wanting to be the character they had played in the mirror growing up, always wanting to be in A Chorus Line: Val, Cassie, Christine, Sheila, Paul, Connie.

There wasn't a dry eye among us.

It took over a year to cast the show. Three thousand candidates were screened--professionals with Equity cards and amateurs wanting a break.

I saw A Chorus Line in preview in San Francisco. I didn't really like musical theater then, preferring edgy obtuse drama instead. But "Dance Ten; Looks Three," which everyone knows as "Tits and Ass" always stayed in my head.

There is a wonderful story about that song, but I won't be a spoiler.

And watching "Every Little Step" made me appreciate how innovative and authentic A Chorus Line was. Michael Bennett brought together eighteen dancers, the gypsies, with a jug of bad red wine and a reel to reel tape recorder. They spoke about their lives, about their lives in theater. Then he took those tapes, had them transcribed, and with Edward Kleban on lyrics and Marvin Hamlisch writing the music, Bennett conceived the play. The script itself was written by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante. Bennett choreographed the play, along with Bob Avian, who is the director of the revival. Joseph Papp, then the godfather of new and exciting theater, offered a workshop and even paid everyone $100 a week to continue to work on the play. It was the first play to be conceived and developed this way. A Chorus Line was nominated for twelve Tony's, won nine, and as awarded the Pulitzer Prize for theater.

Prepare to cry. Prepare to be deeply touched by these talented, hopeful dancers. Prepare to listen to the script and lyrics with the memories of when you were young and so eager to be a star.