Newcomers and Show Palace veterans swell the cast of dancers in the crowd-pleasing A Chorus Line.
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published October 2, 2003
[Times photo: Brendan Fitterer]
Liz George, front, plays Judy in the Broadway standby A Chorus Line at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre in Hudson.
HUDSON - A Chorus Line was one of Broadway's most successful shows, going for more than 6,000 performances and winning 10 Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and more than two dozen Theatre World Awards.
Since it closed on Broadway in 1990, it has become a favorite in regional and community theaters, drawing patrons who may be seeing the show for the 10th or 15th time.
The Show Palace Dinner Theatre in Hudson opens its version of the show Friday for an eight-week run.
A Chorus Line is a series of vignettes told by 21 "gypsies," the anonymous dancers who toil in the chorus line. The script and song lyrics were based on a series of interviews with real dancers, and shows nearly three hours in the life of a typical audition.
The stories run the gamut from funny to poignant to angry. The almost bare stage and a cast dressed in the scruffy stuff dancers wear during warmups let the stories and the dancing have the spotlight. A casting director sits in the rear of the auditorium, calling each dancer to the fore to share some personal history.
One by one, some boldly, some reluctantly, the dancers step forward. In between is dancing, anchored by the dramatic One (Singular Sensation), the song the auditioners must learn for the routine and the show's conclusion.
The Show Palace's 23-member cast includes eight newcomers, many of whom are reprising roles they have played in other theaters, and 15 Show Palace veterans.
Playing Zach, the casting director, is Robert St. Germain, who had leads in Carousel, Joseph/Dreamcoat and Camelot in New England theaters and recently wound up a stint with Royal Caribbean International Cruise Lines. Katie Kerwin (Annie in Annie Get Your Gun at the Show Palace) plays Cassie, Zach's former girlfriend, just back from a failed attempt at stardom in Hollywood and needing a job.
The theater's artistic director, John Vincent Leggio, plays Paul, the conflicted gay dancer with parental issues. Leggio has the longest resume in the cast, having played on Broadway in Cats and My Fair Lady and serving as choreographer for several productions at the Jaeb Theater at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. This is the first time Leggio has taken a major role in a Show Palace production; he usually opts to direct, stage and choreograph the shows.
PREVIEW
A Chorus Line, Friday through Nov. 22, at Show Palace Dinner Theatre, 16128 U.S. 19, Hudson. 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Oct. 22 and 30; 3 p.m. Sundays; and 1:30 p.m. Oct. 18 and 22. Doors open two hours before each show for buffet and full cash bar. Dinner and show, $38.50; show only, $27.45, all plus tax and tip. Call 863-7949 in west Pasco; toll-free elsewhere 1-888-655-7469.
