San Diegans are lucky this month to welcome the arrival of two of Broadway’s biggest hits, “A Chorus Line” and “Spring Awakening,” from Broadway/San Diego, a Nedlerlander Presentation.
Winner of nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “A Chorus Line” originally debuted at the Shubert Theater in New York in 1975.
San Diego’s own actor/dancer Steve Anthony was a part of the original cast. He was one of the 22 performers selected by legendary director Michael Bennett to participate in a series of workshops that eventually led to the production of “A Chorus Line.”
The show is celebrating its 30th anniversary, although this current touring production began life in 2006 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater in October of that year. It opened to rave reviews. The New York Times hailed it as “Heaven on Broadway,” and Jeffrey Lyons of WNBC-TV called it “An American masterpiece. A show for the ages.”
From 1975 until it closed in 1990, “A Chorus Line” ran for 6.137 performances. National tours and international productions were created, and the show became a worldwide phenomenon. In the show, the dancers pour out their life stories, and all this grew out of the original workshops held by Bennett.
Baayork Lee, originally an assistant choreographer to Bennett, is restaging the dances using Bennett’s original ideas. She said of Bennett, “He was a Jerome Robbins dancer, a ‘West Side Story’ person. He was also a tap dancer and a jazz dancer, and his vocabulary is a compilation of those styles.”
“A Chorus Line” was made into film in1985 starring Michael Douglas and directed by Richard Attenborough. It received one Academy Award nomination for editing.
The newly revised stage version of the show will play the Civic Theater downtown through Aug. 17. Call (619) 570-1100 for tickets.
“Spring Awakening” is a delightful new show that in 2007 won Tonys for Best Musical, Best Director (Michael Mayer), Best Choreographer (Bill T. Jones), Best Orchestrations (Duncan Sheik), Best Lighting Design (Kevin Adams), Best Book (Steven Sater) and Best Featured Actor (John Gallagher, Jr.). It also won kudos from the New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and the Outer Critics Circle.
Based on an 1891 Frank Wedekind play, the show is set against the repressive and provincial late 19th-century Germany. Actor/singer Kyle Riabko plays Melchior Gabor, a thoughtful and soul-searching young man who dares to defy convention. “Spring Awakening” tells the story of teenage self-discovery and budding sexuality as seen through the inquisitive eyes of three teenagers. Blake Bashoff plays the best friend who struggles to measure up to his father’s and his own high expectations.
The hit musical will be playing at the newly renovated and restored Balboa Theatre downtown at Horton Plaza Aug. 15 through 31.
Call (619) 570-1100 or (619) 220-TIXS for tickets.