"What I Did For Love". Got up early for me and joined a large audience at 9.20am to see ‘A Chorus Line’. This is a musical set in a bare rehearsal hall where auditions are being held by Zach, the director of a musical hoping to Broadway bound, and a cast of hopefuls.
From the outset ‘I Hope I Get It’, this is all about the insecurity of being in show business where talented people can be living a hand-to-mouth existence, hoping for work and the possibility of the big break that for the majority never comes.
The original group is whittled down quickly to seventeen, male and female and all shapes, sizes and multi-racial. To add to the hopefuls' anxiety, the director is only looking for eight special dancers - four boys and four girls. He asks them to share their life to date with him so he can make his choice. To degrees of reluctance, they participate - cue a series of solos some with a bit of dancing but mainly a storyline about what drove them to put themselves out there with the possibility of another rejection.
How the stories unfold are for you to find out, but some are sad, some funny and some demonstrate how complex life can be.
There are a lot of songs to enjoy but a little more projection would not go amiss. This hall is not a theatre with a rake so those beyond the front rows miss out on some nifty footwork. The cast are very confident and the actor playing the character 'Sheila' conveys the seen-it-all-done-it-all attitude of the oldest dancer there.
The facial expressions generally flit through anxiety, boredom, being supportive and wanting success and the performers maintain character really well when they are not involved in the immediate action.
The finale sees the cast in their costume, all in unison and the individuals now merged into ‘One’.
The company continue the tradition of American High School students at the Fringe and yes it was worth the early start.
Catch the last performance on Wednesday, 12th August at the later time of 11.20am