Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

Glitter and be gay
Photo : Paul Kolnik/CTG 2008

So, my friend Marni scored me a free ticket to see the touring production of A Chorus Line, of all things, here in L.A. over the weekend at the Ahmanson theater. Besides getting to see Marni, I had to go considering that 1) this is not normally the kind of thing I would pay to go see, and 2) my only other exposure to the musical was memorable for some of the wrong reasons. I last saw A Chorus Line at the lovely Muny, the nation's oldest and largest outdoor theater, in the heart of Forest Park in beautiful St. Louis, MO. A detailed explanation of my presence in St. Louis is beyond the scope of this blog, but suffice it to say that each summer the Muny puts on a mini-season of some warhorse musicals over a period of a few weeks and I went with a group of friends figuring it was worth seeing simply because it was new to me. Of course, anything outdoor in St. Louis in the summer is automatically a bad idea. So in 100 degree heat, I watched the dancing-singing juggernaut that revolutionized theater in the 1970s. I could barely stand it in that I couldn’t imagine how awful the performers must have felt in the heat. I thought I was going to be sick for them. But the show must go on and it did.

So, of course, the first thing I notice about this current touring revival is how cool it was inside the theater. Outside of that, absolutely nothing substantial has changed for A Chorus Line, not just in the decade or so since I lived in St. Louis, but in the 30 or so years this baby’s been around. Oh, sure the buns may be a little harder and higher, and the poignancy of a cross-dressing Puerto Rican man may have diminished somewhat, but this is one tight, fast-moving dance extravaganza. I have to admit I did enjoy myself. And while I can’t say I was moved by hearing “What I Did for Love," it will take a week to get those creaky Marvin Hamlisch melodies out of my head. There are performances through this weekend if you’re up for it, but be warned it is a crowd-pleaser in every sense of the word.

Labels: LA Theater Reviews