This immediately followed another portentous segment titled “Tap Combination” for “OMP’s” production, the choreography for this disarmingly sprightly intermezzo is particularly sharp and buoyant incorporating a few nifty “Pendulum Time-Steps” and a string of dashing “Bombershays”-the very stuff of a crowd pleaser if ever there was one.
Performed here with the groups’ back initially to the audience (which succeeds in making it all the more compelling) once the dancers ‘break’ into smaller groups, we are given the opportunity to actually hear bits of their inner-monologue which sheds light on what goes through a dancer’s head as they try to learn an individual bit of choreography, culminating in a brilliant ‘kick line’. Perhaps one of the show’s most ‘uncommonly rare, very unique’ features, however, is the second act dance sequence that introduces the show’s major anthem, “One”. With a book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante (with healthy dollops of humor from an uncredited Neil Simon,) the songs are by Edward Kleban (Lyrics) and Marvin Hamlisch (Music) the result of all their efforts was a “Tony Award” for “Best Musical”, a “Pulitzer Prize” for Drama, and one of the longest runs ever in the history of the “Great White Way”! If melodies like “I Can Do That” provide the HOW of a dancer’s motivation, others like “At The Ballet”, “The Music And The Mirror” and What I did For Love” provide the WHY. Many of the stories related in “A Chorus Line”-its scenes, tunes, and text, are the bona fide, dyed-in-the-wool life experiences of those who participated-more than a few of whom went on to star in the original Broadway outing. I need people who look terrific together-and that can work together as a group…” Ricky Augustin is Director/Choreographer “Zach” describes what he’s looking for in the dancers he needs to hire in One More Productions’ 2021 Staging of “A Chorus Line” “Before we do any more dancing-and we will be dancing some more–but let me explain something: I’m looking for a strong dancing chorus.
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