STAGE REVIEW : New Talent Sparkles at Moonlight

The special excitement of watching minor-league teams comes from spotting tomorrow’s talent. One of the treats at Moonlight Amphitheatre, the big, outdoor community theater in Vista, is watching young stars begin to shine.

The company’s last show of the season, “A Chorus Line,” is designed to allow several performers to show their stuff, which they do to advantage here. Michael Bennett created and choreographed the show in 1975 to honor the individuals who make up a Broadway chorus line. The original Broadway team included writers James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban.

The show has won a Pulitzer Prize, nine Tony Awards and ran for 15 years on Broadway. Audiences and critics alike loved the inside look it gave to the lives of Broadway dancers, even as it gave several previously unknown performers shots at seizing center stage.

Moonlight, with its bright, airy atmosphere and fresh-faced cast, is not about to fool you into thinking you’re watching veteran Broadway dancers on a tense Broadway audition.

But it does do the “Chorus Line” job of showcasing talented performers who, like the original “Chorus Line” cast, are basically unknown. Moonlight made an effort to anchor the quality of the show by using four professional actors in Equity Waiver contracts.

Still, it seems fitting that the most breathtaking performance is by non-Equity performer Lori Kathryn Holton, 22, who does an astonishingly mature job as Cassie, the chorus girl turned failed star who begs for a chance to be let back in the chorus again.

When Holton begins “The Music and the Mirror,” her song about why she must dance, she erupts with a voluptuous delivery charged with danger. Holton’s song is in the second act, part of the reason the longer second act nevertheless seems a lot shorter than the first.

The second act also gets a boost from spunky Alexandra Auckland as Val, the girl who swears by plastic surgery in the “Dance: Ten; Looks, Three” number, and young Moonlight veteran Bets Malone as Diane, who sums up why the dancers dance in a sweetly sung “What I Did for Love.”

Director/choreographer Ray Limon guides the show with confidence in the second act, but fails to build the same momentum in the first. The medley, “Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love”--an homage to puberty--is particularly diffuse. Still, some fine performances stand out. Jill Matson is a hoot swaggering as Sheila, the sardonic been-through-it-all chorine pushing 30. K.C. Gussler is fun as the quick-stepping “Mike” in “I Can Do That.”

Throughout the show, Randall S. Hickman provides a strong level of tension and support as Zach, who is auditioning the dancers and has to deal with the fact that he used to be (still is?) in love with Cassie.

The set design by Don Ertel is simple and adequate in its suggestion of a Broadway stage with mirrors flipping into a wall and back. The costumes--workout clothes--coordinated by Carlotta Malone seemed authentic and the splashy costumes for the finale looked good. Mark Sell’s lighting design was simple and effective.

“A Chorus Line” is not the newest musical Moonlight has attempted in its 12 years, but it is the most mature in subject matter and language (as the warning signs at the ticket office alert its family-oriented audience). The mature way that Moonlight has handled this show augurs well for what this theater may accomplish in the future.

“A CHORUS LINE”

Originally conceived, choreographed and directed by Michael Bennett. Book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante. Music by Marvin Hamlisch. Lyrics by Edward Kleban. Direction and choreography, Ray Limon. Musical direction, James R. Cook. Conducted by Kenneth Gammie. Lighting, Mark Sell. Costumes, Carlotta Malone. Set design, Don Ertel. Sound, Stephen Smith. Technical direction, M. Andrew Currey. Stage manager, David R. Schrage. With Alexandra Auckland, Tiffany Billings, Robert Clater, Doug Davis, Kay Du, Michael S. Goddard, K.C. Gussler, Randall S. Hickman, Lori Kathryn Holton, Jack S. Kimball, Bets Malone, Jill Matson, Russell Nickerson, Paul Leighton Nygro, Myche (accent over the e in Myche) Owens, Heather Paige, Sean Tamburrino, Christopher Wuebben and Pamela Wilson. Performances at 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays, through Sept. 20. Tickets are $6-$14. At the Moonlight Amphitheatre, Brengle Terrace Park, 1200 Vale Terrace Drive, Vista, 724-2110.