Conceived and originally directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett Book by James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante Music by Marvin Hamlisch Lyrics by Edward Kleban Co-Choreographed by Bob Avian Original Broadway production produced by The New York Shakespeare Festival, Joseph Papp, producer, in association with Plum Productions, Inc. Director and Choreographer Donna Feore
On stage, they move as one. But each member of that glittering line has a unique history of hope and heartbreak, revealed in the life stories they share in this inspiring musical masterpiece.
A Chorus Line contains some mature subject matter and coarse language.
Production Co-Sponsors
Production support is generously provided by Mary Ann & Robert Gorlin, by Riki Turofsky & Charles Petersen and by Catherine & David Wilkes. Support for the 2016 season of the Festival Theatre is generously provided by Claire & Daniel Bernstein.
2016: Zach in A Chorus Line and Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm in A Little Night Music. 14th season. Stratford: Henry V, Much Ado, The Misanthrope, Twelfth Night, Kiss Me, Kate, Evita, Bartholomew Fair, Three Sisters, All's Well, Shrew, As You Like It, Hamlet, Dracula, Dream, Man of La Mancha. Elsewhere: The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Bob Kills Theatre); Cabaret, Philadelphia Story, Light in the Piazza (Shaw); Madonna Painter (Factory); New Brain, Piazza (Acting Up Stage); It's a Wonderful Life, Goodnight Desdemona, Much Ado (Canadian Stage); Cymbeline, The Three Musketeers, Hecuba (Chicago Shakespeare); Blithe Spirit, An Ideal Husband (Citadel); Love's Labour's Lost (NAC); The Producers (Mirvish); Present Laughter (Soulpepper); Anything That Moves (Tarragon); Kiss of the Spider Woman (Livent); Hedda Gabler (MTC); Rocky Horror (Bathurst Street). Film/TV: Reign, Finn on the Fly, Republic of Love, What's Up Warthogs, The Border, Roxy Hunter, This Is Wonderland, Cheetah Girls, Monk. Training: BFA, U of A. Awards: Dora, Gemini, Jeff, Ovation, Carbonell.
2016: Mike in A Chorus Line and Frid in A Little Night Music. Seventh season. Stratford: The Sound of Music,Carousel, Crazy for You, Man of La Mancha, Tommy, Fiddler on the Roof, Jesus Christ Superstar, Camelot, West Side Story, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Music Man, Moby Dick. Broadway: Jesus Christ Superstar (Dodgers). Elsewhere: Billy Elliot The Musical (MTC); Snow White (Ross Petty Productions); Shrek The Musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Grand Theatre); White Christmas, Sweet Charity, Dance Legends (Drayton Entertainment); We Will Rock You (Mirvish); Anne of Green Gables, Canada Rocks (Charlottetown Festival); The Waiting Room, Verb.atim, Rain (Helix Dance Project); Eve of St.George (TranscenDance Project). Training: Advanced certificates in RAD, CDTA and ADAPT syllabi. Banff ballet school, RWB School, and an alumnus of the Canadian College of Performing Arts. Et cetera: "Much love and peace. Enjoy the shows!"
2016: Al in A Chorus Line and Henrik Egerman in A Little Night Music. Third season. Stratford: Rolf Gruber in The Sound of Music, Pinball Lad in Tommy and appeared in Fiddler on the Roof and Carousel. Elsewhere: Johnny alternate in Green Day's American Idiot (first U.S. tour); Hank Majewski in Jersey Boys (Dancap); Gilbert in Anne of Green Gables (Charlottetown); Bobby in Cabaret (Theatre Aquarius). Film/TV: Captain von Trapp in the Disney movie The Pacifier starring Vin Diesel. Training: Etobicoke School of the Arts. Online: Twitter: @GabrielNacci. Et cetera: Huge thanks to his family, Colin McMurray, Donna Feore, Gary Griffin and his cello teachers Ben and Natalie. He could not be here without the incredible support of his wife, Robin, and their two dogs, Bella and Sophie.
2016: Lenny in A Chorus Line and Second Forest Lord in As You Like It. Second season. Stratford: Carousel, The Adventures of Pericles. Elsewhere: North American Broadway tour: Movin' Out; Drayton Entertainment: Twist and Shout, Damn Yankees and Dance Legends; Canadian Opera Company: Don Quichotte. Film/TV: American Girl: Isabelle Dances Into the Spotlight; Rise, Shaftesbury Films. Training: Alex grew up dancing at his family-owned dance studio, Dean/Black School of Performing Arts. He attended Wayne State University as a BFA candidate, and was a talent scholar and Maggie Allesee Award recipient. Et cetera: Alex would like to thank his wife, Rochelle, family and friends for their love and support.
2016: Butch in A Chorus Line and La Troupe de Molière in The Hypochondriac. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Luis in West Side Story (Citadel Theatre); Clara's Dream and Shumka at 50! China tour (Shumka/SPI Productions); Angel in Rent and Fector in Dogfight (Edmonton Fringe); Larry in Company (Grant MacEwan Theatre). Training: Grant MacEwan University Theatre Arts. Awards: Sterling Award for West Side Story, Citadel Theatre. Online: Twitter: @Jordan_Mah; Instagram: @Djmah5. Et cetera: Jordan would like to thank his family, friends and mentors for all the incredible support. "Life is a whirlwind, so spread those wings and fly!"
2016: Roy in A Chorus Line and Charles, Jake de Boys in As You Like It. Seventh season. Stratford: Pedro, Man of La Mancha; Custus, Crazy for You; Ernst Ludwig, Cabaret; Baron Elberfeld, The Sound of Music (2015); Rolf, The Sound of Music (2001); Carousel; The Trojan Women; Jean-Paul, Gigi; Love's Labour's Lost; My Fair Lady; Inherit the Wind; The Threepenny Opera. Elsewhere: Gus/Growltiger, Cats (NuMusical Productions); Mary Poppins U.S. national tour (Disney Theatricals); Jerry, The Full Monty (Theatre Aquarius); Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie; Boolie, Driving Miss Daisy (Starbright Festival); Leo, Leo the Royal Cadet, Strephon, Iolanthe (Toronto Operetta Theatre); Simeon, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Stage West); Robert, Betrayal (DIY theatre); Bill Sykes, Oliver!; Giles, The Mousetrap (Port Hope Theatre); Dr. Carrasco, Man of La Mancha (Saidye Bronfman Centre). Training: BFA Acting: University of Windsor.
2016: Diana in A Chorus Line and understudy in A Little Night Music. Second season. Stratford: The Sound of Music and Carousel. Elsewhere: The Sound of Music (Aquarius); Third Spirit in The Magic Flute, Amore in L'incoronazione di Poppea, seven seasons with Artists of Atelier Ballet, including tours to L'Opéra Royal de Versailles and the Salzburg Festival (Opera Atelier); Bach Mass in B minor (Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra); Toronto All-Star Big Band. Film/TV: Magic Flute Diaries (Sullivan Entertainment). Recordings: Shrek's Fairytale Kingdom (DreamWorks/Capcom); UFOs: A Secret History (History Channel). Training: BMus, Masters of Musicology, University of Toronto; School of Atelier Ballet. Awards: SSHRC; OGS. Et cetera: "Thanks to my family and friends for your unconditional love and ongoing support, Ken for providing a solid artistic foundation in music, Jeannette and Marshall for introducing me to the stage and mentoring me over many, many years, and Rachel at NCA for the encouragement!"
Conceiver, original director and choreographer: A Chorus Line.
Born in Buffalo, New York, on April 8, 1943, Michael Bennett choreographed Promises, Promises; Coco; Company; Follies (which he co-directed with Harold Prince); and Seesaw (which he also wrote and directed). In 1973 he made his debut as a dramatic director with Twigs, which starred Sada Thompson. A Chorus Line, which he conceived, choreographed and directed, won nine Tony Awards. In 1976 he and the other authors of A Chorus Line were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 1979 he produced, directed and choreographed Ballroom, which was nominated for eight Tony Awards and won Bennett his sixth Tony. He won his seventh Tony Award for 1981's Dreamgirls and directed its acclaimed 1985 Broadway revival. The film adaptation of Dreamgirls was released in December 2006. Bennett died on July 2, 1987.
Librettist: A Chorus Line
Born in Los Angeles on August 22, 1924, James Kirkwood was a Broadway and television actor as well as half of the comedy team Kirkwood and Goodman before taking up writing. His novels include There Must Be a Pony!, Good Times/Bad Times, P.S. Your Cat Is Dead!, Some Kind of Hero and Hit Me With a Rainbow. His nonfiction books include American Grotesque and Diary of a Mad Playwright: Perilous Adventures on the Road with Mary Martin and Carol Channing, about the road tour of his play Legends. His other plays include U.T.B.U. and dramatizations of There Must Be a Pony! and P.S. Your Cat Is Dead! He died on April 21, 1989.
Born Conrado Morales in New York City on November 22, 1941, Nicholas Dante spent his early career dancing in the choruses of Applause and other Broadway shows, as well as various TV shows and nightclubs. His writing career took off when his friend Michael Bennett asked him to collaborate on the first draft of the book for A Chorus Line. The final result earned Dante a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award and many other honours. He also authored a screenplay, Fake Lady, and a musical based on the life of AI Jolson entitled Jolson Tonite. He died on May 21, 1991.
Composer: A Chorus Line.
Born in Manhattan on June 2, 1944, Marvin Hamlisch was the composer of the Broadway musicals They're Playing Our Song and Sweet Smell of Success, and shared the Pulitzer Prize for his score of A Chorus Line. He also composed more than 40 motion picture scores, including his Oscar-winning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin's music for The Sting, for which he received a third Oscar. A graduate of both the Juilliard School of Music and Queens College, he held the position of principal pops conductor with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. He died on August 6, 2012.
Edward Kleban was born in the Bronx, New York City, on April 30, 1939. A Chorus Line was his first Broadway musical, and his lyrics won 1975 Tony, Drama Desk and Olivier Awards, as well as the Pulitzer Prize. He died on December 28, 1987, at the age of 48. Kleban's music and lyrics provided the score of the musical A Class Act, produced on Broadway in 2001, for which he was posthumously nominated for a Tony and a Drama Desk Award. In addition to his legacy as a songwriter, he created the Kleban Foundation, which awards grants to aspiring theatre lyricists. To date, the foundation's grants total more than $3 million.
2016: Production stage manager of the Festival Theatre and assistant stage manager of A Little Night Music. 33rd season. Stratford: Maggie has been PSM at the Avon, Tom Patterson and Festival theatres for 25 seasons. Stage-management credits include Henry IV (parts 1 and 2); Iolanthe; The Imaginary Invalid; My Fair Lady; A Man for All Seasons; Kiss Me, Kate; Guys and Dolls; The Government Inspector; Coriolanus; The Mikado (national tour, London's Old Vic); and Twelfth Night (U.S. tour). Elsewhere: Maggie has worked at the St. Lawrence Centre (Toronto Arts Productions), MTC and the Grand Theatre, where she stage-managed a Dora Award-winning production of A Little Night Music. She stage-managed Eugene Onegin (Manitoba Opera), the first Dream in High Park and the first Dora Awards. She did publicity for the NDWT Company and toured Canada with the Charlottetown Festival. Training: Graduate of the National Theatre School.
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