"What makes me angry is that young people will hear this show broke every record on Broadway and the only point of reference they will have is the film. And they'll wonder why" -Theoni Aldredge

There has been a lot of controversy over the movie version of A Chorus Line. Sadly, the general feeling that pervades amongst most fans of the musical is that it is too different from the original show, resulting in an overall effect that is slow-moving, dreary and lacks the sparkle, humour and impact of its original counterpart.

'A Chorus Line' was Micheal Bennett's show and he beleived that he was the only person who could produce and direct the movie. A deal was made, and a press release issued that Michael himself would indeed be directing and producing 'A Chorus Line: The Movie'. But friction between himself & MCA (the studio) the patronising attitudes of many of the officials there, along with the clash between the studio and Michael's very different visions of what the movie should be, caused Bennett to walk out of the whole deal very suddenly. Bennett's point of view was that the film should be exactly what the show was - it worked, it was brilliant so why change it? The studio however, had different ideas.

Whilst, for the most part the plot and character backgrounds remained unchanged, substansial changes were made during the show's transferral to the screen:

• The song 'Sing!' (a duet between Kristine and Al) is omitted completely.
• The song 'The Music and the Mirror' is replaced by 'Let Me Dance For You'
• Major parts of the montage (Judy's solo and dialogue, Connie's 'Four Foot 10' solo and dialogue, Don's solo, Maggie's 'Mother' song, Richie's Gimme the Ball solo, Greg's solo and dialogue and Marks 'Gonoeraha' solo) are completely removed, most parts being converted into 30 second speeches inserted at different points throughout the movie.
• Mark's 'Gonoreahha' song and Greg's story about discovering he was gay are merged into a very short version of 'Hello 12, Hello 13, Hello Love'
• 'Suprise', a song written for the movie and not in the original show in any form, replaces the rest of the Montage. Sung primarily by Richie and backed up by the rest of the cast, it features strange lighting effects and themes of sexual desire and longing.
• Bebe is chosen instead of Judy in the final elimination
• Cassie arrives halfway through the audtition instead of being there from the start, and Zach is so against her audtioning that she doesn't even begin to dance or sing with the others until the first rehersal of 'One'. Instead there are a lot of new scenes added of her wandering around backstage in the dressing rooms with Larry, and a series of flashbacks to the time when she and Zach were still together.
  
• The song 'What I did for Love' - originally Diana's love song to the act of dance and backed up by the entire cast - is sung as a complete solo by Cassie as a love song to Zach.
• 'Alternatives' is condensed into a short spoken scene, featuring only Connie, Sheila, Mark and Bebe.
• Zach does not dance at all, and for the most part stays in his directors booth in the centre of the auditorium.

As well as these changes, there are some goofs and odd moments to watch out for:

• One tall, skinny dancer with short blond hair (wearing a white top with a blue leotard over it) gets cut at the beginning, the same time as Connie and Judy and get through to the next round. Later she reappears dressed differently (in a pink catsuit) as you can see when Zach tells Vicki not to dance during the ballet combination.
• Throughout the whole film we never see Val dance. She is always just off camera in dance scenes such as 'Suprise' and 'I hope I get it'. An actress who played Val on Broadway and audtioned for the film but didnt get it was asked to dub Audrey Landers (movie Val) in the dancing but refused.
  
• In the dance section of 'Suprise' as Richie turns a triple pirouette towards the end, you can actually see the sweat flying off his face.
• In the closing while the credits are running, watch the lower right hand corner of the screen. While doing high-kicks one dancer falls and then gets up again and continues dancing.

Cast
Michael Douglas: Zach
Alyson Reed: Cassie
Vicki Frederick: Sheila
Cameron English: Paul
Yamil Borges: Diana
Gregg Burge: Richie
Audrey Landers: Val
Pam Klinger: Maggie
Blane Savage: Don
Michael Blevins: Mark
Jan Gan Boyd: Connie
Janet Jones: Judy
Michelle Johnston: Bebe
Terrence Mann: Larry
Tony Fields: Al
Nicole Fosse: Kristine
Charles McGowan: Mike
Justin Ross: Greg
Matt West: Bobby
Sharon Brown: Kim

Related Links
IMDB: A Chorus Line
Buy the movie on video at Amazon.com
Buy the movie on DVD at Amazon.co.uk
A Chorus Line: From Stage to Screen

Reviews

'If you've never seen this popular production performed on stage in its original form as one of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history, the movie version is probably your next best option--heck, it's your only option! But beware the major difference between the experience of stage and screen, because A Chorus Line is a perfect example of a show that doesn't translate well from one medium to another. Director Richard Attenborough gives it his best shot, cutting some of the production numbers and adding new ones while "opening up" the show to explore the off-stage lives of struggling performers as they prepare for another grueling audition. Michael Douglas plays the harsh, workaholic director who puts the auditioning "gypsies" through the paces, winnowing a large group of hopefuls down to eight lucky cast members for his next big show. There's a subplot about the director's former girlfriend, who returns for the big audition, and along the way the other hopefuls sing and dance while revealing their various hopes and fears. On screen, the musical works best when focused on its dramatic passages; otherwise it's impossible to escape the fact that this material is best suited to live performance. -Jeff Shannon

'Auditionees for Broadway chorus line reveal their innermost thoughts and emotions in song and dance before a hard-boiled director (Douglas). Thoroughly uninspired, unmemorable filming of the landmark Broadway musical; watchable, especially if you never saw the play, but what can you say about a musical in which all the singing and all the dancing is mediocre? And the show's biggest number, ``What I Did for Love,'' is treated as a throwaway!'-Panavision.