STAGE REVIEW : Latest ‘Chorus Line’ Goes by the Book

There is nothing in the American musical theater to compare with the closing images of “A Chorus Line.” Nothing else is as charged with emotion, as beautiful or as simple: Dancers, their pain laid bare, their personal histories hung out to dry, dressed in shimmering gold and one by one forming that formidable chorus line for the final time as they reprise the haunting, unforgettable “One.”

This singular creation of the late Michael Bennett (with a little help from his dancing friends) is a modern classic whose stature is undiminished nearly 17 years after it was cheered for the first time on the Newman stage of Joe Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival. But all is not equally strong in the umpteenth edition of the show that opened Wednesday at the Century City Shubert Theatre.

The members of this “Line” can dance all right. Gail Benedict’s statuesque Sheila (“May the adults smoke?”) is as withering as any seen over the years, and a better dancer than most. Kelli Fish’s Val squeezes each ironic drop of pragmatism from her perky version of “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three,” while Porfirio’s Paul wrenches every tear from his mini soap opera of transvestite dancing in a sleazy 125th Street nightclub.

And Randy Clements is a powerful Zach--clipped, abrasive, precise, compassionate--who wields a figurative whip and holds things briskly together. The crescendo of “What I Did for Love” still sends its electric thrills through a transfixed audience.

So what’s missing? That old intangible, magic. Call it an absence of spirit, call it a lack of spontaneity, but this “Line,” restaged to Bennett specifications by Baayork Lee (the original Connie), does things more by rote than enthusiasm. It feels tired, and Wanda Richert-Preston’s mannered Cassie doesn’t help.

Aside from lacking the emotional depth or dancing range of some of her predecessors, she suffers from what many other Cassies have suffered from, including Donna McKechnie’s original one: the impossibility of living up to the build-up of “The Music and the Mirror.”

Richert-Preston’s rendition of this big solo number, performed against her own reflection in the mirrored columns, seems over-simplified and flavorless.

Could it have something to do with the equally disappointing musical arrangements? We are told that there is an 18-piece orchestra in the pit, concealed by a stretch of Spandex canvas to give the illusion of a real audition. What this orchestra delivers, however, is as unprepossessing as canned music.

This is not a “Chorus Line” worthy of Bennett’s impeccable standards, of book-writers James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante or lyricist Edward Kleban, none of whom is around any more to stop the exploitation. The only surviving member of the creative nucleus is composer Marvin Hamlisch, who should drop in at the Shubert and take a listen. Odds are he won’t like what he hears.

As a groundbreaker that became Broadway’s longest-running musical, “A Chorus Line” has racked up almost as many records as it has fans. But let’s not see done for money what they did for love. It doesn’t deserve to be bussed and trucked for every residual dollar it can muster from a trusting public.

Generations of young people have not seen this show and should, but not in as slick and mechanical a version as this one. If this is the best we can get, it’s time to call a hiatus and give it a rest.

“A Chorus Line,” Shubert Theatre, 2020 Avenue of the Stars, Century City. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Feb. 23; $30-$50. (800) 233-3123. Running time: 2 hours.

‘A Chorus Line’

Jim Athens: Frank

Philip Michael Baskerville: Richie

Gail Benedict: Sheila

Michael Biondi: Larry

Melinda Cartwright: Connie

Janie Casserly: Judy

Kevin Chinn: Butch

Randy Clements: Zach

Michael Danek: Don

Kelli Fish: Val

Morris Freed: Roy

Doug Friedman: Greg

Deborah Genevieve: Diana

Michael Gorman: Bobby

Julia Gregory: Tricia

Darrell Hankey: Tom

Melissa Johnson: Kristine

Diana Kavilis: Vicki

Frank Kosik: Al

Julie Pappas: Maggie

Porfirio: Paul

Wanda Richert-Preston: Cassie

Mark Santillano: Mike

Anna Simonelli: Lois

Randy Slovacek: Mark

Beth Swearingen: Bebe

Producers Robert L. Young, Richard Martini, Albert Nocciolino. Original production conceived, directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett. Co-choreographer Bob Avian. Restaged by Baayork Lee. Book James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante. Music Marvin Hamlisch. Lyrics Edward Kleban. Lights Richard Winkler. Sound Abe Jacobs. Musical director Joseph Klein. Dance captain Jim Litten. Production stage manager Joseph Sheridan. Stage manager John Calder III.