“A Chorus Line” won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize when it premiered on Broadway in 1976. Theatre Aspen’s revival of the play concludes on July 25 at the Hurst Theatre.
Nine Tonys and a Pulitzer. In addition to being a cultural sensation, those are some of the accolades “A Chorus Line” received in 1976. It became the longest-running Broadway show ever until “Cats” overtook it in 1997.
Why did a play about 19 young dancers competing for a role in the chorus of a Broadway musical resonate so deeply and why is it still so beloved 50 years later? Theatre Aspen’s production of “A Chorus Line,” which runs at the Hurst Theatre through July 25, goes a long way to answering these questions.
First off, it’s the music. While the entire score is strong and birthed a hit soundtrack album in the 1970s, there are three songs that have earned a permanent place in the canon of classic Broadway songs: “The Music and the Mirror,” “What I Did for Love” and “One,” which feels like Cole Porter wrote a song in the 1920s and plucked it into a 1976 play about young people trying to make their way in life and the theater.
And then there’s the almost non-stop dancing. And for the Theatre Aspen production, every single piece in the play features original choreography by Eamon Foley, except for the final number of the show, a reprise of “One,” which mimics the original choreography from the 1976 Broadway production and puts a very, very “big” into the big finish.
The plot of “A Chorus Line” is simple. Nineteen dancers are auditioning for a role in the chorus of a Broadway play. Over the course of the day, the characters are asked questions by the play’s director and choreographer, Zach. The dancers answer by revealing intimate details about their lives through dance and song.
“A Chorus Line” is the ultimate ensemble piece — almost every character gets equal time. But there is one character who gets a little bit more than the rest while managing to carry the emotional resonances of the entire production.
That part is “Cassie,” played with equal parts vulnerability and ferocity by Ahren Victory.
When Victory walks onstage at the Hurst Theatre wearing Cassie’s signature red dress, she’s not simply playing one of Broadway’s most iconic roles. She’s telling a story she understands from the inside.
Like Cassie, Victory has spent years auditioning, performing and chasing a career that demands equal parts talent, perseverance and faith.
Ahren Victory stars as “Cassie” in Theatre Aspen’s production of “A Chorus Line.” Victory grew up in Colorado Springs.
A Colorado beginning
Raised in Colorado Springs, Victory first found her voice before discovering dance. Her parents filled the family car with Andrea Bocelli recordings, and by elementary school a choir teacher recognized that she possessed unusual vocal talent.
Victory didn’t begin serious dance training until she was about 14 — an age many dancers consider late to begin.
From there came community theater, opera productions and training at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and Opera Theatre of the Rockies before moving to New York to attend the Joffrey Ballet School. Soon after earning representation, Victory landed her first national tour with “Cats” and earned her Actors Equity card.
Life imitates art
The production marks Victory’s first time performing in “A Chorus Line,” but like Cassie, she has spent decades being called into auditions in hopes of landing a role.
Now 32, Victory sees herself and Cassie at nearly the same stage of life.
It is revealed in the story that Cassie and Zach were once lovers and that Cassie walked out on the relationship.
But Cassie never touches the gold ring on the Broadway carousel. She arrives at the audition older than most of the performers on the line, a more mature actress just trying to stay in the game.
Zach thinks the role is below her. She disagrees. Cassie just wants to keep doing the thing she loves.
“Cassie never set out to be a star,” Victory said. “Zach wanted her to be a star. She wanted to be an artist, she wanted to fulfill her purpose and dance. There’s no coming to terms with being in the chorus because it’s not slumming to her.”
Victory recalls similar expectations being cast on her as a young actress.
“When I was just starting out and did ‘Cats’ someone said to me, ‘This is a great stepping stone because obviously you want to be a star,” she recalled. “But that’s not why I chose this career. I do this because I love it. I don’t know who I would be if I don’t dance, if I don’t sing. I want to create good art. I want to be an artist. That is who I am to my core.”
That is the messaging behind the song “The Music in The Mirror,” Cassie’s big number in “A Chorus Line.” In dance, the mirror represents the work you’re putting in on stage where you’re watching yourself dance while the choreographer calls out the steps. Victory’s performance, in which she dances from mirror to mirror across the stage, is a highlight of the show.
Several of the dancers in the audition are eyeing stardom and others have settled for a life on “the line.” Some have said that “A Chorus Line” is about making it on Broadway. In many ways it’s about not making it — this is a play, after all, about people auditioning to be in the background and finding that your life still has meaning. It’s about discovering that chasing the dream was the point all along.
“Kiss Today Goodbye” is not a traditional love song about romantic love, it is a song about doing what you love at all costs, even if your name doesn’t go up in lights, even if you’re just in the chorus line.
Victory believes that’s why audiences continue to connect with the show five decades after it won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize.
“The idea that the love and the passion you put into your life is what is most important is not just a message for performers,” she said. “No matter what you do, we can all take that lesson with us. Another big lesson in the play is that you can always start over. You can try again. You can pivot. You can try something else. As long as you’re happy and it’s what you want to do and you have that fire in your belly.”
Victory added that a big part of life is simply showing up.
“If you don’t go for it, you’ll never know,” she said. “If you don’t go to that audition, you’ll never know if you are going to make it or not.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aspendailynews.com ’
