‘A Chorus Line’--One Singular Sensation--Takes Its Final Bow

Broadway said goodby Saturday to “A Chorus Line” in an emotional final performance that included tears, cheers and a standing ovation for the musical’s cast, both past and present.

“This show is dedicated to anyone who has ever danced in a chorus or marched in step anywhere,” producer Joseph Papp said as the show ended a 15-year run of 6,137 performances, the longest in Broadway history.

“Take a final bow ‘Chorus line,’ ” Papp said.

There was wild applause after every musical number, and at the end of the show the audience cheered throughout the finale.

Papp began a roll call of all the performers in the current production and then brought on stage all of the dancers who were in the original 1975 production.

Theater-goers then roared their approval as a photo of Michael Bennett, the show’s director and choreographer appeared on stage. Bennett died of AIDS in 1987 at the age of 44.

The sold-out evening benefited the New York Shakespeare Festival, which produced the musical. Tickets were priced from $80 to $500.

Papp announced the pending closure in February, citing declining ticket sales. At first he said it would close at the end of March but a surge of last-minute ticket sales pushed the closing date back four weeks.

The public first saw “A Chorus Line” in April, 1975, off-Broadway, in the Shakespeare Festival’s Newman Theater.

The show was born from a series of workshops conducted by Bennett. Material came from more than 40 hours of taped conversations with theater dancers about their hopes, fears, lives and loves.

It was Bennett who fashioned the musical, hiring composer Marvin Hamlisch, lyricist Ed Kleban, and Nicholas Dante and James Kirkwood to write the book.

“A Chorus Line” was an immediate success. The reviews were ecstatic, and the musical moved to Broadway on July 25, 1975. In 1976, it won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Since then, it has become one of the most financially successful Broadway shows ever. Variety pegged its total profit as of last February at more than $50 million, the second highest in U.S. theater history--after “Cats.”

There have been several special performances over the years. On Jan. 30, 1981, the recently released Iranian hostages attended a performance of the show. On Sept. 29, 1983, “A Chorus Line” became the longest-running show in Broadway history with performance No. 3,389, passing “Grease.” Bennett put 332 past and current cast members on stage.

In the last year, there has been renewed interest in “A Chorus Line,” with four books written about the show, or about Bennett. The original cast, which participated in one of the books, appeared on talk and news shows.