‘A Chorus Line’

A CHORUS LINE – MUSIC BY MARVIN HAMLISCH, LYRICS BY EDWARD KLEBAN
BOOK BY JAMES KIRKWOOD JR & NICHOLAS DANTE
DIRECTED BY BAAYORK LEE
PRODUCED BY TIM LAWSON – CAPITOL THEATRE
20 JULY – 11 AUGUST 2012

Sybil: A quick disclosure. I’m a musical theatre tragic. I’ve seen this show at least 3 times previously and have lost count of the number of times I’ve seen the film.

And this was outstanding. Special nod to Debora Krizak who stole the show as Sheila, especially with ‘At the Ballet’ which was to DIE for. For me the week link was the actress who played ‘Val’. This rendition missed the comic and bitter-sweet emotional beats of the song – which is one of my favourites. Disappointing.

Also, despite the above, and the fact that I have sung the song for 20 years, this was the first time I really understood – on a visceral level – the meaning of the song ‘What I Did for Love’. Inspiring, beautiful, sad, gorgeous.

Lea: Aside from loving this show, I went tonight to support my friend Debora Krizak, who is a fellow Mum juggling a creative career and sharing Saturday morning dance class duties. As a person who is often in the audition room, this show cuts through on a lot of levels. I didn’t love everyone’s performances, but it was far more of a hit than it was a miss, and I left understanding why it had been nominated for so many awards. Deb was awesome, I couldn’t agree more with Syb about her wonderful interpretation of ‘At the Ballet’ and she trod exactly the right line between confidence and vulnerability for me. I was caught up in so many of the characters stories it’s hard to critique them in retrospect. Maybe that was my sense of empathy, or perhaps it was the wine.

IN SUMMARY

PRE-SHOW DRINKS: The Chamberlain – classy!
POST-SHOW DRINKS: The Chamberlain – so classy we did it twice.
HANGOVER STATUS: A tad sleepy