Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama, the Broadway musical “A Chorus Line” is coming to the Dinner Theater on Friday, Jan. 26.
The musical premiered on Broadway in 1975 with the stories of the thousands of dancers who made a living working from show to show.
“I think one of the great things about ‘A Chorus Line’ in general is that the stories that you hear from the characters on stage are the stories of real people,” said Derrick Cintron, 28-year-old business major. “The stories that you hear on stage are absolutely true so, as performers, it’s a surreal experience because we have been through the same process of auditioning for the shows that we want.”
The musical centers for seventeen dancers in the middle of an audition for an upcoming Broadway show. In this musical, dancing plays a very important know as it’s through the dance style of each character reveals a glimpse of their unique personality.
“In this show, this is one for the first shows where the dancing wasn’t just a musical number that showed up of nowhere because the dancing helps to tell the story,” Josey Pickett, 34, the choreographer said.
Pickett said this musical is connected to what’s happening in society today regarding women and gay rights.
“Is it going to be uncomfortable for some people? Yes it is because there are a lot of adult themes and they talk at about a lot of things people don’t want to hear but that’s why this musical was important in its day,” said director and costume designer, Jaime Barba. “‘A Chorus Line’ is an iconic Broadway musical and it’s something we’re exposing El Paso and Juarez people, to know a musical from 40 years ago that is so relevant today.”
It takes around six weeks to put a show together. However, for “A Chorus Line” that time was exceeded due to the heavy dance numbers in the show.
“We had auditions in September and they started rehearsing the choreography in November and we got back on January 2 to go over the choreography and the music together,” Barba said. “In most musicals, you may have two or four dancing numbers total this one is danced through.”
“A Chorus Line” opening night will be on January 26 and will run until February 11.
Dinner performances will be available, as well as matinee performances and no dinner performances.
For more information about the tickets visit ticketmaster.com
