A Chorus Line Returns to Broadway

ByABC News
September 20, 2006, 7:05 PM

— -- In 1990 -- after 6,137 shows -- A Chorus Line closed its doors after a 15 year run on stage, at the time the longest run of any Broadway musical.

But now the show created for Broadway and about Broadway is back on Broadway.

The storyline, which follows 17 dancers desperately trying to land a role in the chorus of a Broadway show, exhibits the characteristics of the modern-day reality craze.

"This is the original reality show on stage," says Jeffrey Schecter, cast as "Mike," the first of the characters to tell his story, "You get an inside look of what it is to be a performer on stage and go through the audition process."

And like so many actors, Schecter has a real connection to the show.

"My 'I can do that" story is that I saw the movie Saturday Night Fever," Schecter says, laughing, "And I thought, 'Ok, that guy is a bad ass…I can shake my pelvis and do those things and have women begging to be with me, I can do that! I want to do that!' "

The idea for A Chorus Line was born during a workshop in the 1970s with actors and dancers telling their life stories, bearing their souls, in real, raw stories.

The legendary director and choreographer Michael Bennett used these stories, crafting "A Chorus Line" to illustrate that metaphorical line between desperation and hope.

"One day, Michael took a piece of chalk at the rehearsal hall and drew a line and said, 'OK, this is the line,' " reflects composer Marvin Hamlisch, "And once he did that, I got the show, loud and clear."

"What you are talking about...this precarious shift between desperation and "you got it" is the distance of that line, and that is what this show is all about," continues Hamlisch, "You are this far away from either one. You are this far away, and you are walking a tightrope…and the people in the audience know it, and the people on stage know it."

But A Chorus Line isn't just about the race to fame. And if it is a predecessor of the modern reality show, it is a much different reality show than what we're accustomed to.