Amazon.com: 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
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - 2 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:
A Chorus Line is a classic example of something working on stage but not on screen--the musical was a revolutionary piece of musical theater, but the movie just feels uninspired and ordinary; the film may be of interest to those who like musicals, but it's not very accomplished.
Rating: - An excellent gift
I gave this dvd to a dear friend of mine. It's an excellent musical and it originated a famous tv series.
Rating: - Song, Dance, and interesting characters
A Chorus Line allows us to watch as a director (Michael Douglas) selects the men and women he wants in the chorus of a play he will direct. He asks the people who have come to try out to tell him something about themselves, since members of the chorus will have bit parts in the play. Among those trying out are a married couple, a woman who has acted for the Douglas character before, a young man involved in gay theater without his family's knowledge, and one of the great loves of the director's life.
While it's difficult to imagine an actual try-out being conducted along these lines, it does offer an opportunity for the audience to get to know the often-anonymous chorus and for each of the chorus members to have a moment (or more) to shine.
Rating: - Chorus Line DVD
The movie is great; however a sequence where BeBe is asked to demonstrate a solo is missing.
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- 2 stars out of 4
- An excellent gift
- Song, Dance, and interesting characters
