At a real audition, there is neither time nor money for on‐stage psychotherapy. The intensely personal responses of the candidates to the director's cold interrogation are, of course, a gimmick, a hook upon which to impale the audience's concern. The others pack up their rehearsal clothes, and their hopes, for another audition. This they do, telling stories that range from broken homes to homosexuality to dreams of glory sparked by the Moira Shearer dance film “The Red Shoes.” Finally, the director rejects all but four boys and four girls. The director sizes them up, immediately cuts their number to 18 and then invites the rest to step forward, one by one, and tell him something true about themselves. Twenty - four dancers are trying out for eight openings in the chorus line of an upcoming musical. Martha Swope Michael Bennett, right, rehearses: “We'd never get this chance on Broadway.” In ‘A Chorus Line,’ I tried to show the audience exactly what Broadway dancing is all about, on all its levels.” “Broadway dance,” he observes simply, “is what I know, what I was, and what I am. At 32, Bennett, a former chorus “boy” himself, is quick to acknowledge his roots and debts. “I could spend the rest of my life chasing this show, trying to top myself, and that's a trap I want to stay out of.”Ī line in the playbill reads, “This show is dedicated to anyone who has ever danced in a chorus or marched in step … anywhere.” Bennett says he included that thibute as a measure of respect and affection for the dancers who give life and farm to his art. “I'm trying to keep myself in check,” he admitted. ascetic ‘face, with, its odd coinbinittion of closetrimmed Amish - style chin whiskers and Sicilian mustache, showed the accumulated ‘fatigue of long hours of rehearsal, and the dawning realization of - gold - plated success. Bennett, a slight, wiry figure in faded T‐shirt and jeans, was relaxing for the first time in months his bonny. We were tailing on the sunny terrace of Bennett's midtown apartment cum office. Michael Bennett, who conceived, choreographed and directed the new musical that its the surprise hit of the season downtown at the Public Theater, was responding to the critics who had almost unanimously hailed his show as a new‐style musical. It's this experience that makes the show different, makes it innovative.” In fact, people seem to be finding ‘A Chorus Line’ more believable than most plays they've seen recently. The audience starts believing in those chorus dancers Iright away. “There is truth on that stage - nothing monumental or astounding, but truth nonetheless.
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