A Chorus Line


Who doesn't like Broadway musicals? Each show is different, with different narratives and different stories. There's so much to explore within the excitement and dramatic music in all of them, highly-energetic live theater! Such is the case with the Broadway hit called A Chorus Line, which has been exactly that since It first started its run in the seventies. Here we will look at some of the background and origins of one of the best known Broadway productions around.

By The Book

Both the American playwright James Kirkwood and dancer Nicholas Dante authored the book from which A Chorus Line was based, also under the same title, which won James a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical in 1976. The live production was beginning to form as early as 1974 in New York around the formation of workshops for dancers and developments of what would eventually become a strong center of musical attractions as we know it today.

The Writer's Premise

A Chorus line is written in a true writer's form of developing characters. As a playwright, such as James Kirkwood was, this makes sense. In most plays the development is the same, to give some insight into these characters and turn them into real people. The setup for this is obvious, because the story starts with an audition for dancers that could basically just give something for the writer to whittle down from, until the audition narrows it down to seventeen characters. From here, the writer goes into details of each character and allows them to engage with each other in the story.

The Score

One of the best and best known composers Marvin Hamlisch, became very well established thanks to the score for A Chorus Line which won him both a Pulitzer and a Tony award for it in 1975. The seventies was his decade of growth and popularity, as he had only just begun to score film and live shows some years earlier.

Influential Today

It's very clear that among many popular musicals that A Chorus Line is a definite favorite among theater goers and music lovers worldwide. It's also been very influential with other stage productions and inspired films and even more books every since. The simplicity of the story, the great dance numbers, the range of the actors who've portrayed these characters has developed quite a following, making it a tried and true Broadway classic for all to enjoy.

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