A Chorus Line by Marvin Hamlisch
Review of A Chorus Line, Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds
Song And Dance Show A Tribute To Broadway
A CHORUS Line was the longest running Broadway show in its day. Broadway is teeming with gorgeous chorus boys and girls who would give their eye teeth for a part in what is essentially a vanity project for aspiring showbiz dance stars. Bury St Edmunds is not.The success of the show pivots on the spectacle of the dance and for that reason alone, this is a difficult one for an amateur group to pull off. The other big problem is in casting a group of professional dancers. Not all the characters are in the first flush of youth, but they are meant to be people who might win a part in a Broadway show and, unfair as it is, looks count. For women whose hips are as broad as their shoulders and men whose stomachs measure more than their chests, lycra is not a good look. Having said that, the cast threw themselves into their roles with gusto, performing the complex dance routines devised by choreographer Sian Couture with energy and assurance.
A lot of hard work had gone into perfecting those routines — and a lot of fun, I imagine.Each dancer had a character role to portray, in an array of more or less convincing American accents.Shy little Christie (Elizabeth Futter) and her brash husband Al (Derek Bourke) performed a wonderfully precise double-talking duet as he helped her explain that she couldn’t sing. Michelle Gray stalked the stage in a leopardskin leotard as the formidable, wise cracking Sheila. Gina Giles smouldered .as the Puerto Rican beauty, determined to act as well as dance.The most memorable characters were Ingrid Holzer-Miller as Cassie and Duncan Leech as Paul. Holzer-Miller really came alive in the dance sequences, her long limbs executing fluid, boneless movements, and her acting was very natural and unforced. Leech had just the right air of fragility and diffidence as the street kid, exposed to abuse and escaping into a world of dress-up and make believe.The performers changed into gold and black glamour costumes, for a spectacular finale and a round of hard-earned applause.
GAYLE WADE, Bury Free Press
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