STAGE REVIEWS : ‘A CHORUS LINE’

“A Chorus Line” arrives at Fullerton Civic Light Opera with enough glitz and guts to remind everyone exactly why this uncommon musical has made theater history. The FCLO production, stacked with veterans of last year’s Grand Dinner Theatre show, still demonstrates the power to move, to dazzle, to grate and to surprise.

Director Danny Taylor has staged a version that is respectfully faithful to the original Michael Bennett concept, which drew its plot from taped conversations with Broadway dancers about their feelings as they put themselves on the line audition after audition. The strong suit of this production is the crisp dancing. Movement spills across the expanse of the empty stage; the dance routines crackle with energy, and evident everywhere is the symmetry that is a good chorus line’s calling card. And despite a few misplaced hats in the finale, the precision makes its point.

The cast is a generally successful blend of Equity and non-Equity performers, with a few uneven links that skew the balance of the line. But it is individual moments that provide the emotional punch: Glenn Shiroma as the self-conscious Paul silences the house with his quiet despair; Barbara Carlton as tough-cookie Sheila creates an affecting blend of bluff tempered by fear; Lisa Dryden’s expressive face tells Cassie’s whole story as she’s dancing; Steve Belin shows Zach’s caring side as well as his ambition; Mark Perkins’ glorious Bobby offers an appealing mix of the manic and the self-mocking; Branch Woodman’s Greg has substance as well as flash, and Liz Jones provides powerful vocal work as Diana.

Taylor has made sure that “Chorus Line’s” classy bloodlines show in this production. The original costumes have been re-created, and the show plays straight through without an intermission, as written, as Bennett intended, in order to put the audience through the same two-hour wringer the dancers experience. The intimidating sense of an immense empty theater is effectively evoked by Donna Ruzika’s lighting design.

“A Chorus Line” will play through Nov. 2 at Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton. For information, call (714) 879-1732.