Its first Broadway revival having just closed in August, A Chorus Line is on tour again where I caught up with it in Boston following its opening on September 11. Amazingly, and much to my surprise, the tour (which began in Denver in May and ends next June in Milwaukee) is superior to the Broadway revival in almost every imaginable way. In fact, it wouldn't be overstating the case to say that this is easily the best cast of A Chorus Line I've ever seen.

Restaged as always by Bennett's protégé Baayork Lee (who played Connie in the original cast) in Boston's gorgeous 2,500-seat Opera House, what sets this production apart is the unbelievable energy and commitment brought to every moment of the show by the cast. The tight and muscular dancing has an urgency and athleticism sorely missing from the 2006 revival, with leaps flying into the air with impressive amplitude and spins staying uniformly together. Granted, dancers in the 1970's never had the ripped and pumped bodies dancers have today, but, for my money, this is the choreography Michael Bennett intended us to see: sweaty, full out and desperate. And that's just what this new tour cast gives us - thrillingly.

Down the line the casting and acting are excellent and in this production, unlike the 2006 revival, the singing is also superb. As Diana Morales, Gabrielle Ruiz has a powerhouse voice that knocks "Nothing" and "What I Did For Love" out of the park. Similarly, not since Kay Cole sang Maggie in the original production has anyone come close to Hollie Howard's shattering top notes in "At the Ballet." As the flamboyantly gay Greg, Denis Lambert is perfection with caustic Emily Fletcher and Ian Liberto nailing every laugh as Sheila and Bobby. Natalie Elise Hall manages to put her own comedic stamp on "Dance Ten, Looks Three" as Val, while Stephanie Gibson and Anthony Wayne are terrific as Judy and Richie. Clyde Alves is fantastic as Mike, singing "I Can Do That" with panache, and, as husband and wife Al and Kristine, Colt Prattes and Jessica Latshaw bring new hilarity to "Sing!"

In the pivotal roles of Cassie and Zach, Nikki Snelson and Michael Gruber anchor the show in a gritty realism both believable and wrenching. Though perhaps a few years too young to play Cassie, Nikki Snelson manages the almost impossible "The Music and the Mirror," both dancing it spectacularly as well as being able to sing it, too. (Has every woman who's ever played Cassie cursed Donna McKechnie for setting the bar for that number so impossibly high?) For his part, when he's teaching the choreography on-stage it's impossible to take your eyes of the impossibly handsome Gruber. A sensational dancer himself, and wearing the sweater Zach is supposed to wear (under which you can still see his bulging biceps, in case Mario Lopez was wondering), Gruber is the right age and the right temperament to play Zach. You really believe he cares about the kids who are auditioning for him and his scenes with Cassie bristle with electricity and emotion. Finally, as Paul, Kevin Santos performs the most difficult and lengthy monologue in any musical ever written with pitch-perfect sincerity and heartbreaking delivery. It's a testament to his performance that in the enormous Opera House you could have heard a pin drop during Paul's confessional, coming-out story which ends in a breakdown of tears.

Musically, the tour travels with conductor John C. O'Neill as well as two keyboard players and a percussionist. The pick-up orchestra of 13 additional musicians played well under O'Neill's baton and, though reduced in orchestration, Marvin Hamlisch's brilliant score sounded full and alive in their hands. How nice to have my faith in A Chorus Line restored and how unexpected that it came at the hands of a national tour. Perhaps the greatest compliment I can give it is to say I'd pay full-price to see it again.