Workout, by Ray S

It was about 7:35 pm when the house lights began to dim. From somewhere in the almost-filled theatre a voice made the usual request to silence your electronic equipment and warned that no cameras or recording devices are permitted.

The house was now dark and the audience settled down in readiness for what soon was to become a 2 ½ hour long (with no intermission) revival of the 1975 Tony Award winning musical production “A Chorus Line.”

And what a production with a capital P it was, a marathon, a superb dancing and singing and stagecraft marathon. As the story proceeded I could only think what a workout is was for the entire company. Truly I was in awe of what I watched and heard going on that stage. There is something that gets under your skin when the score beings to punctuate your every breath, and you imagine that you might be up there on the stage with that dancing crew. That imagination is pretty powerful when it comes to erasing 70 or 80 years.

The storyline follows the tryouts each applicant who has come to the theatre to maybe get a job in an upcoming Broadway musical.

As they are put through their dancing workouts some of them let you in on who they are, where they came from, and why they want to dance. Of course, the major reason being they want a job!

But, beyond that the interviews reveal other parts and secrets of their lives. They are like all of us humans with unrealistic wishes, happy and sad baggage that comes to the surface at different and strongly unwanted times. Somewhere, one of the boy dancers steps out to tell a very moving coming out story which brought tears to my eyes and thunderous applause from the house. The scene was a show stopper.

So, I and they just keep on doing what we know best how to do—just keep on dancing.

As the show comes to its climax the audience (that includes me) is rewarded with a dazzling finale that makes everyone feel good—but that’s show business folks. You gotta experience it.

© 11 Sep 2017 

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