Studio 58 musical theatre students reveal the hopes and dreams of A Chorus Line

It's a long way from mid-'70s New York to mid-'20s Vancouver, but some things never change. Like the fear and pressure experienced by the fledgling dancers and singers in A Chorus Line.

A Chorus Line

When: Feb. 2-19

Where: Waterfront Theatre

Tickets: From $10 at studio58.ca

It’s a long way from mid-’70s New York to mid-’20s Vancouver, but some things never change. Like the fear and pressure experienced by the fledgling dancers and singers in A Chorus Line.

“I’ve done dance auditions,” said Langara theatre student Yana Vitkovic, who plays Val in Studio 58’s upcoming production of the classic musical.

“I’ve been in that spot. What’s really interesting about A Chorus Line is that a lot of dancers don’t like to speak very much. But Zack, the choreographer-slash-director, asks all of the characters to speak and say who they are, where they came from, and how they got into dancing. So that’s really that’s been really interesting. I’ve never done that before in any dance audition.”

With music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, the play follows a group of young performers trying out for the chorus line of a Broadway show. A monster hit when it debuted on Broadway nearly 50 years ago, it received 12 Tony Award nominations and won nine, along with the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Until Cats surpassed it in 1997, it was the longest-running production in Broadway history. A 1985 movie, with Michael Douglas as Zach, did not fare quite so well, receiving mixed reviews and making back only half its budget.

For the Studio 58 production, program leader Courtenay Dobbie is directing, with musical direction by Diane Speirs and choreography by Shelley Stewart Hunt. It’s a show with a lot of moving parts, including 29 roles, 19 of them speaking, as well as a live band.

“It’s just so, so, so cool for the students to be able to sing along with a live orchestra like that,” Dobbie said. “It’s a great experience for them.”

One reason Dobbie chose the show was because she knew that the musical would play to the strengths of this year’s cohort.

“Yana’s class, and the class below hers, just happened to be a really strong group of dancers and singers. Sometimes that happens. And so I thought, ‘Now this is going to work. We need this level of movement and dance capability to do it.’”

“It’s very fun, but a lot of work, a lot of dancing, and a lot of shapes and moving together,” Vitkovic said. “It’s not just the dance steps that we all have to learn but it’s the bigger picture and having so many people in the cast.”

Her training is in dance and acting, so singing is the scariest part for her. And as Val, she belts out one of the show’s bona fide showstoppers, the raunchy “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three,” with its refrain of, “Tits and ass.”

“The first time I did it in rehearsal, I definitely felt a little like ‘Whoooh,’ but my castmates are absolutely amazing. And I feel super comfortable in front of them and in front of the creative team, which is so helpful. I relate to Val quite a bit, in the sense of, I feel very comfortable talking about bodies and I feel very comfortable in my body.”

Prior to auditioning, Vitkovic hadn’t seen the musical. She says that she doesn’t find it dated. Dobbie agrees.

“It is a piece from the ’70s, so movie stars and dancers of the time are referenced,” Dobbie said. “But that’s fleeting. It’s really about their human experience. We did a run-through this past Sunday with all the creative team there, and after I said to them, ‘God, is it me or does this musical still just really speak to you as an artist and just as a human being about following your hopes and dreams?’ And they were all like, ‘Yes, totally.’ I just kept thinking that when I was watching it. It really stands the test of time. It’s still really rich.”