A Chorus Line (2006)

The time is 1975, the place the stage of a Broadway theatre. A large group of dancers is assembled to audition for a spot in the chorus line of a new show directed by the hot young director/choreographer Zach. Over the course of the day he will put the young hopefuls through a grueling series of combinations and routines, eliminating dancers until he has arrived at the four men and four women he needs for his ensemble. We gradually pick individuals out of the mass of swirling bodies and, as they work through an arduous series of steps, we hear of their insecurities and their intense desire to win a spot in the chorus line: “I Hope I Get It.”

As the audition progresses, dancers are cut and those that remain express their anxieties and aspirations. Zach asks them to tell him something about themselves, and one by one they bare their souls, revealing their backgrounds, their dreams, their struggles, how they came to love dancing, and what it means to them.

Eager Mike explains that he got the dance bug by accompanying his sister to dance class, where he discovered “I Can Do That.”

Tough as nails Sheila, staring 30 uncomfortably in the face, tells how her childhood dance classes provided an escape from her troubled home life, offering a refuge of beauty and elegance, a sentiment echoed by Bebe and Maggie: “At the Ballet.”

Nervous Kristine needs the help of her husband Al to tell the comic story of her musical handicap: despite her dancing ability she could never really “SING!”

The dancers delve into their formative years, exploring their struggles with sex, family and the challenge of learning their craft in “Montage, Part 1: Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love”; “Part 2: Nothing” (Diana’s method-acting lament); “Part 3: Mother”; “Part 4: Gimme The Ball.”

Val reveals that, after a series of unsuccessful auditions, she finally realized the necessity of cutting a shapely figure – even if it required surgical enhancement – in “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three.”

During a break, Zach asks Cassie, an experienced dancer who has moved on to featured roles, to stay behind and speak with him alone on stage. Cassie and Zach were once lovers, but she left New York, frustrated by Zach’s total immersion in his work, and ended up in Hollywood with a stalled film career. Now, not having worked in two years, she asks Zach to give her the chance to do the thing she was meant to do: dance. Through song and a solo dance, she tells her story and makes her plea to Zach in “The Music and the Mirror.”

Paul then returns to the stage alone and tells Zach of coming to terms with being gay, finding his manhood and his determination to work as a dancer any way he can.

The others return and Zach drills them in a star number requiring absolute precision and crisp unison: “One.” Zach taunts Cassie throughout the number, pointing out how her superior skill and individuality make her unsuited to the anonymity of the chorus. He believes she is too special to blend in, but she is adamant that this is the life she has chosen and begs him to cast her.

Zach then asks his assistant Larry to run a tap number, during which Paul falls while doing a turn and injures his knee. The others are shaken as he is taken away to the hospital. Zach asks them: “What do you do if you can’t dance any more?” and “How would you feel?” The dancers discuss their fears, their dreams, and their options. Diana expresses what they all feel about the choices and sacrifices they’ve made in “What I Did for Love.” Zach then assembles the group to announce his final selections, thanking them all for their efforts. When he is finished, eight dancers remain. The entire cast then performs the show-stopping finale “One (reprise)”