A CHORUS LINE Tribute Fail — Page 2

bwayobsessed said: "I thought Zegler was phenomenal. It felt a bit random but she sounded great"

OK, true - but... Didn't meet the brief.

This was supposed to be a tribute to the 50th anniversary of a show that changed Broadway history (like "Oklahoma" did).

The focus should have been on celebrating "A Chorus Line". To celebrate Zegler instead is/was (IMO) insulting.

After it was done I started thinking what they could have done with this tribute. I came up with something like this:

Featuring 5 past cast members. Mike Berresse comes out with the Tony dancers/singers onstage dressed close to the original costumes, delivers a line or two right before yelling "Ah 5, 6, 7, 8!". They go into a shortened version "I Hope I Get It" ending at the point of the 4 notes before "Who Am I Anyway". On those 4 notes 4 original cast members step up to the line from the darkness behind with their original headshot pictures each dropping them on a note and them being shown on the screen behind them.. (Cilento, Lee, McKechnie, and Lopez) They go right into Lopez doing "What I Did For Love" and it is done as it was with the cast joining near the end of the song. On the last note the "cast" steps back into the darkness leaving the four originals standing on the line with the original show logo/poster on the screen behind them.

Updated On: 6/9/26 at 12:46 PM

BrodyFosse123 said: "There are quite a bit of living original cast members of A CHORUS LINE aside from the obvious ones who are always representing the show."

I am aware of that. Looked some up but settled on those. Chose Berresee as LuPone has passed away. A lot of people who may have been watching may not even know who the people I chose are. Those are the people I would like to see though.

Claude Perkins said: "It didn't even occur to me to be outraged about the lack of dancing as the song is without a doubt the most famous, lasting thing to come out of the show ( coincidentally the first musical I ever saw back in the day)."

...it's a show that's literally about....dancers.

My first thought was, “Ummmm-The Rockettes”? My 2nd thought was, “The entire ensemble from Schmigadoon was there, and could have done an amazing One performance.”

Due to her upcoming EVITA, they wanted to have her perform in some capacity aside from just presenting so she was inserted into this slot. Nothing more, nothing less. Her performing at any other point during the show made no sense. The producers of EVITA paid for this obvious indirect promotional bit. A CHORUS LINE actually made its 50th Anniversary last year as the show opened on Broadway in 1975 so this “tribute” might have just been a “what can we do to give her?” during pre-production discussions after the creatives were presented with having to find a spot that Zegler can sing a solo.

I was hoping to see Jessica Lee Goldyn as Cassie but grateful I was able to see Gotta Dance a few times. I will continue the tribute by taking in A Chorus Line at Barrington next month. I’m sure it will be terrific.

I found the performance completely soulless and devoid of any actual connection to A Chorus Line. Introducing her by saying she was going to "honor the original cast of A Chorus Line" and then just have her sand center stage while over-singing "What I Did for Love" in front of the words A CHORUS LINE was a bizarre choice.

It was an Evita commercial plain and simple. And I get that. But they couldn't even pretend it was actually about A Chorus Line by having a slideshow of pictures from the original production or something?

And I didn't think she actually sounded that great, by the end the high notes felt forced and the vibrato was getting away from her. She is immensely talented but this was not a great performance.

Should've been the In Memoriam segment song.