Chorus Line

This movie brought my hopes down honestly. I was very excited to see it at first, but it didn't turn out too well.

Okay, first of all, it's supposed to be a musical but they didn't even sing that much. Second, the transition of talking to singing SUCKED. It was the worst ever in the history of musicals. I'm not kidding.

But I have to admit, the dancing was very good. I mean, it has to be, since the movie is "A Chorus Line" and that's a big part of it.

The actors who portrayed their characters well were Audrey Landers (as Val Clark), Michael Douglas (as Zach), and Alyson Reed was pretty okay as Cassie.

It was just an "okay" movie, know what I mean? I liked the Broadway version better.

In 1981 I had the pleasure of seeing my first musical on Broadway during a week long business trip that December. That stage musical was "A Chorus Line". It was, and still is, the most memorable musical experience for me. The singing and dancing were of course top notch.

For a film version I would have much preferred a good film of the actual stage production, as has been done with the great "Cats." However, they made the movie, and it does not stink as some seem to want to make everyone believe. When Morales does "Nothing", or when the three girls do "At The Ballet", this film version has the same impact as the stage version does, even if the singing is often mediocre when compared to the Broadway cast. So, anyone who is a fan of musicals, and who thought the stage version was a "10", then the film is probably a "7", or maybe a "6" at the lowest. Those who rate this film version of "A Chorus Line" very low simply are showing themselves as very poor critics.

Edit: May 2019 - I watched it again on DVD, very nice to see it again. And now in 2021 it is available online via streaming services. I found it on Amazon streaming.

Edit: MAR 2024 - Again, this time streaming on Prime, I came away with an even better opinion of this version.

A strange picture, as it peels the outer rims of human feelings and aims straight for the raw. Auditioning for a Broadway stage musical are hundreds of youngsters who dream with a place in the limelight. The plot, you can imagine, is basically an audition, with all its highs and lows. And when I say it has raw feelings, i'm talking about the cold process of selection, which is encarnated by the obscure character of Michael Douglas, who, in the obscurity of the audience, with only a little light next to him, says who stays and who goes, even if he has to be brutal sometimes ("Then don't dance!!!", he says shouting to a girl who didn't have any dance classes). The result is a film sustained by the different phases of selection and the suspense of who is going to be a star and who has to leave, which, altogether, will charm only dance-addicts and everyone who would like to be in one of these shows one day.

For those who never saw A CHORUS LINE onstage and their only exposure to the story was this film, this film is OK as movie musicals, nothing special, just OK. I have seen the show on Broadway 4 times and even auditioned for a touring company of the show once and for someone who pretty much memorized the original production, the 1985 film version is so dreadful on so many levels that I don't even know where to begin. First of all, for those who have never auditioned for a theatrical production, let me assure you that IRL when you audition for a play, the director, producer, and choreographer never ask personal questions and don't give a crap about why you wanted to become a performer. A real theatrical audition, whether it be for a play or a musical, rarely takes more than five minutes. If you're auditioning as a dancer, you get shown a 64-bar dance combination once, you do it, and then they decide immediately whether you're in or out. Michael Bennett's original concept of the show was to flesh out the lives of dancers and introduce to the uninitiated the passion for performing and why so many sacrifice so much for so little. The play is about these dancers. First of all, director Richard Attenborough took so much focus off the dancers by beefing up the Cassie/Zach relationship and by casting Michael Douglas as Zach. In the play, you NEVER see Zach...he is just a voice in the back of the theater and his relationship with Cassie is barely touched upon. Cassie shown in the cab in traffic trying to get to the audition and upstairs talking to Larry (a character who is not even in the play)was all added for the movie and took so much focus off what the story is about. Major musical numbers were cut or rethought. The opening number in the play "I Hope I Get It" shows all of the dancers doing a jazz and ballet combination and then people get eliminated. In the movie they jam three hundred dancers onstage together and show them in closeup to disguise the fact that they have cast people in the film who can't dance (can you say "Audrey Landers"). "Goodbye 12, Goodbye 13, Hello Love", a brilliant vocal exploration of these dancers' childhood's jaundiced memories was reworked as "Surprise, Surprise" mainly a vehicle for the late Gregg Burge as Richie. The show's most famous song, "What I Did for Love" which in the show was a touching allegory sung by the entire cast about what they give up to dance, becomes just another standard love song in the film, performed tiredly by a miscast Allyson Reed as Cassie. Jeffrey Hornaday's choreography for the film is dull and unimaginative and doesn't hold a candle to Michael Bennett' original staging and when you're making a movie about dancers, the choreography has to be special. There are a couple of good dancers in the film, the previously mentioned Gregg Burge as Richie, Michelle Johnston as Bebe, and Janet Jones as Judy, but they are hardly given the opportunity to show what they can do, yet Audrey Landers, who can barely walk and chew gum at the same time, is given one of the show's best numbers, "Dance 10, Looks 3." I will admit that the finale, "One" is dazzling, but you have to wait almost two hours for that. I would say that if you never saw A CHORUS LINE onstage, this film might be worth a look, but if you are a devotee of the original Broadway musical...be afraid...be very afraid.

Why all the bad reviews? Is it dated? Yes. But the music, the dancing, the really skimpy costumes all makes it magical.

I recently saw the documentary following the Broadway revival and felt the tug of nostalgia pulling to watch the original. I was watching mainly for the music and the dancing. They did not disappoint.

Of course THEATRE is best live and in person - that goes without saying. But I enjoyed my viewing of A Chorus Line.