ACTORS CONSIDER LIFE ON THE ‘LINE’

It’s a case of life imitating art. When “A Chorus Line” closes at Anaheim’s Grand Dinner Theatre on Sunday, cast members will be back making the rounds of auditions, putting themselves on the line--as their stage characters do nightly, spilling out their hopes, fears and ambitions to a director casting a Broadway show.

This cast represents a wide range of professional experience--from a member of the Los Angeles company of “A Chorus Line” reprising her role in Anaheim nine years later, to a dance student just breaking into the business. For some the production has offered a chance to step out of the chorus line and into a featured role for the first time; for others, it’s become the turning point in redefining career goals.

But all share a respect for the musical that, they say, holds as true today as it did more than 10 years ago when director-choreographer Michael Bennett first interviewed the Broadway dancers whose stories became the inspiration for “A Chorus Line.” Opening in 1975, the show went on to become the longest-running in Broadway history.

Now, with the 32-week run at the dinner theater coming to an end, and interest focused on the recently released film version of the musical, Calendar asked cast members at the Grand how working in “A Chorus Line” has shaped their professional lives.

Jim T. Ruttman, 23, who plays the wise-cracking Bobby, is one of the few cast members who has a job waiting after “A Chorus Line” closes. He’ll be appearing in a dinner theater production of “No No Nanette” at the Law-rence Welk Village Theatercin Escondido.

But Ruttman is no stranger to unemployment. Ruttman started in community theater at 9, was tapped for the road company of “Barnum” at 18 and then joined the road company of “A Chorus Line.” But then came Pittsburgh, the end of the line for his company of “A Chorus Line.” He was out of work for seven months.

Seven l-o-n-g months, he recalled recently with a laugh. He quickly learned, he said, that there’s no security in his chosen profession. Did he ever, during those dark days of unemployment, consider another line of work?

“Never. It crossed my mind for a real fleeting moment, but this is all I know how to do,” Ruttman said. “It’s all I want to do. I’d be miserable if I did anything else.”

Every time Lisa Dryden, 29, has tried to leave acting, the phone rings with the promise of another audition, another job.

She was teaching aerobics last spring when she won the part of Judy in “A Chorus Line.” She later stepped into the role of Cassie--the dancer desperate for a job and willing to swallow her pride for a spot in the chorus line--when Penelope Richards injured her back. Playing Cassie, Dryden said, has helped build her confidence and determination to be an actress. (“Meryl Streep, just wait.”) Toward that end, her immediate plans for the future include classes, workshops, agent interviews and, of course, auditions.

Dryden has been dancing since she was 4. “I love to dance, but I will only do it as long as I can excel at it, and there’s a natural time for someone to stop and start developing other areas.”

Glenn Shiroma, 30, who plays the introverted Paul, got a late start in show business. “It was my last year of college. I was a math major, and I hated math my last year, so I spread it out to two years and started taking fun classes--dance, theater, art. And it sort of took over.” Having a degree in math from Cal State Northridge, Shiroma dabbled in sign language theater and community theater productions as a hobby. Along came some industrial film roles, and he was hooked.

Playing the demanding role of Paul for eight months in “A Chorus Line,” he said, has whetted his appetite for acting. “It made me believe a little bit more in my acting,” he said. What’s ahead? “It’s very scary. I have some money saved, so I can tide myself over for a few months.” Meanwhile, he plans to get back into acting classes and to audition as much as he can.

The question of long-range career goals prompted a smile. “Just to be working in the theater, being able to make a living at it, would be real nice.”

Lee Wilson, who in the show plays Al’s wife, Kristine--the one who just can’t sing--is reprising the role she played nine years ago in the cast that brought the show to the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles. A dancer since 3, she is not panicked at the thought of the show closing Sunday. Experience, she said, has taught her that there’s always another opportunity around the corner.

“I started off in ballet companies. Dancing was my life as long as I was in ballet, and I think part of the reason I switched to Broadway is that I didn’t want my entire life to take place in a ballet studio. There were just too many other things.” But, she added: “I don’t ever want to stop dancing.”

How does it feel to be back on the line again? “It feels surprisingly good,” she said. “I had very mixed feelings coming into it because I was afraid that I’d feel that I was going back or that I wasn’t doing it as well as I had the first time. (Before) I’d had six weeks of rehearsals with Michael Bennett and Marvin Hamlisch (who wrote the score) . . . and I was coming into this production with a much shorter rehearsal time. . . .

“I love doing it (the show) again. It’s just an extraordinary show; it’s so well-written. I’m not ready for it to close.”

There are plenty of parallels between Raymond Rodriguez, 24, and his stage character, Richie. Like Richie, Rodriguez changed career directions in college. While an engineering student at Cerritos College, Rodriguez discovered dancing as a form of rehabilitation following a sports injury. “Being under the lights was like being on the football field, and I got hooked; I got the bug.”

That bug took him to France in a production of “West Side Story” and eventually led him to “A Chorus Line.” When the show closes Sunday, he said: “I’m just looking for work; I don’t have anything planned right now.”

“My heart’s in the theater, that’s what I’m going to continue doing,” he said, although he also wants to get experience in front of the camera. He has thought about the question posed by Zach in the show: What do you do when you can’t dance anymore? “I need to become more versatile; I need to become an actor.”

Barbara Carlton also has been with the show since its opening in Anaheim, playing the hard-bitten Sheila, a character facing 30 and assessing her dwindling options. Although Carlton is 25, she sympathizes with her character. “There are already a lot of things I’m too old to do; it’s that reminder that you can never work fast enough,” she said.

After the show closes, she will move right into another stage role, playing Flora from Frisco and joining colleague Jim Ruttman in “No No Nanette” in Escondido. She started her career as a singer, and singing remains her first love, but she finds herself drawn to acting.

What lies farther down the road, say, 10 years from now? “I don’t know. I really have no idea,” she said, pondering the question. “I know I love being on stage. I know I’ll be doing this. It’s the only thing I know how to do.”

Russell Fox, 29, got hooked on show business at 14. And, like other actors before him, “A Chorus Line” has become something of a catalyst.

After four years performing at Walt Disney World in Florida, Fox moved west to study acting, voice and dance, and has been with “A Chorus Line” at the Grand Dinner Theatre since it opened last June, playing the good-natured Al. The role proved a turning point. “It pointed out to me that I didn’t want to be chorus any longer,” Fox said. “I want to be considered for lead roles.”

Fox has a job lined up at Disneyland, appearing at Videopolis, and expects his immediate future to be consumed by classes and auditions. He dreams of someday working with Stephen Sondheim or Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and eventually winding up on the other side of the footlights as a director.

Suzanne Harrer, 20, started out as Tricia and has since moved into the role of the ever-eager Judy. A junior dance major at UC Irvine, Harrer has continued her studies full time during the run, so she knows exactly what she will be doing next week--attending classes from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and looking forward to spending her spring quarter studying dance in New York.

She hopes her future holds a Broadway show, but in the meantime, she’s eager to learn. “Singing and acting are really quite new to me. I feel like I’ve got a long way to go.”

Robbi Morgan, 24, who sings the praises of cosmetic surgery in her role as Val, knows definitely what next week holds. “I’ve worked all year straight, so I’m taking a vacation,” she said with a broad smile. Her vacation will take her back to New York, which she left to come to Los Angeles with the road show of “Barnum.” She has worked here ever since in a succession of film, television and stage roles.

She has an obvious affection for her stage character and the show itself. “The song, ‘What I Did For Love,’ that’s what it’s all about. Bottom line. The sacrifices, the willingness to do absolutely anything.”