A Chorus Line Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

A Chorus Line Blu-ray Movie Review

Not Singular and Not a Sensation

Reviewed by Michael Reuben January 14, 2014

From its humble origins in a series of informal taped conversations among dancers, A Chorus Line grew into a crowd-pleasing, award-winning Broadway juggernaut that ran for fifteen years at the Shubert Theatre and spawned touring companies, revivals and amateur productions around the world. Conceived, directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett, with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban and a book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, the show's deceptively simple premise eliminated all the traditional machinery of the "book" musical by setting the proceedings at an audition. The stage was a stage; the performers were performers auditioning for parts; they sang and danced their hearts out, because they were trying to impress an imperious director. In one way or another, every song was about the hopes, dreams and struggles of the nameless, faceless supporting players on whose backs the stars of musical theater rise to glory.

The general consensus was that A Chorus Line wouldn't translate to the screen, and many directors reportedly turned down the opportunity to create a movie. Michael Bennett himself supposedly pitched an idea for turning the stage audition device into a series of auditions for the film; when the idea was rejected, he declined any further involvement. Ultimately, director Richard Attenborough accepted the assignment as the followup to his Oscar-winning Gandhi. Despite serious efforts and a handsome production shot mostly on location at the former Mark Hellinger Theatre (now converted to the Times Square Church), Attenborough proceeded to vindicate the naysayers. The film was largely panned for failing to capture the fire that was still enthralling audiences on Broadway and elsewhere. Attenborough's version has not improved with time, even in a superior Blu-ray presentation from MGM.

On a bare Broadway stage, a huge group of hopefuls audition for director Zach (Michael Douglas) and his choreographer assistant, Larry (Terrence Mann). Eventually they will be winnowed down to sixteen, who will be interviewed in detail.

Anxiously headed to the theater from the airport is Cassie (Alyson Reed), who is desperate for a job. It will gradually emerge that Cassie used to be a lead dancer who left New York more than a year ago for an opportunity in Hollywood that did not pan out. Now she is desperate to work again, even if it means taking a job in the chorus. Complicating matters is that she and Zach were formerly lovers. When Cassie reaches the theater, he isn't pleased to see her and instructs both his secretary, Kim (Sharon Brown), and Larry to show her the door.

Already the screenplay by Arnold Schulman (Tucker: The Man and His Dream) has begun to fragment the coherence of Michael Bennett's vision. In the live version, Cassie stayed on stage, and the Cassie/Zach storyline wound through the musical like a support line for the various dancers' tales. It was a reminder that every lead dancer starts in the chorus and may always return there, but the chorus remained front and center. Schulman's script transforms Cassie's story into a major backstage affair, complete with flashbacks to happier times when she and Zach shared a spacious loft downtown, and every time Attenborough cuts away from the stage to show a downcast Cassie pleading with Larry to intercede with Zach or making phone calls to find a place to stay, the energy leaks out of the picture like someone had opened a valve.

It doesn't help that Attenborough also keeps cutting to Zach cocooned in a tiny pool of light way out in the depths of the theater. One can understand the visual inspiration, since the live show frequently reduced Zach to an invisible voice from the wings, but the effect is to spend too much screen time aiming the camera where not much is happening. Michael Douglas is an interesting actor, but he's wasted in the purely functional role of Zach. The real action is on the stage, where Zach rarely ventures, e.g., when a dancer is injured in a fall (an episode that should register much more forcefully than it does). When Bob Fosse staged a similar audition sequence in the impressive opening of All That Jazz, he got the director up on the stage and directly involved in the action. Otherwise the character becomes a bore, and so does the film.

A few sequences work. Audrey Landers' energetic rendition, as Val, of "Dance: Ten; Looks: Three" is funny and sexy, primarily because it's uninterrupted by major cutaways. The newly added "Surprise, Surprise" sung by Richie Walters (Gregg Burge) is a memorable number, effectively staged. And the show's finale, "One", has been filled out with so many additional dancers and sparkle that even diehard fans of the stage show will be impressed—that is, if they can get over the unfortunate mishandling of A Chorus Line's most famous song, "What I Did for Love", which has been reassigned to Cassie and staged to deprive it of all its original impact. Intended as a tribute to the self-sacrifice of the dancer's calling, it now falls somewhere between a lover's lament and a song of regret for . . . something.

A Chorus Line Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Reuniting with director Attenborough, Gandhi's cinematographer Ronnie Taylor made excellent use of the 2.39:1 aspect ratio (2.34:1 on the disc) to encompass the entire stage and the full company of dancers being evaluated in front of each other. Fox/MGM's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray provides an impressively clear and sharply detailed image, allowing the viewer to make out facial expressions and details of rehearsal outfits even in long shots. Blacks are deep and solid, as demonstrated by several musical numbers where the performer is isolated by a spotlight, and the color palette ranges from the dull tones of backstage and the streets outside to the brilliant gleams of the golden finale. The source material appears to be pristine, and the film's grain pattern is fine and natural-looking. Overall, it is hard to imagine that A Chorus Line could look better. The high average bitrate of 33.86 Mbps ensures that all those leaping and twirling dance moves are conveyed without motion or other artifacts.

A Chorus Line Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although IMDb indicates that A Chorus Line was shown in a 70mm blowup with a six-track mix, the Blu-ray includes the two-channel Dolby Surround mix that accompanied the film's general release. The mix has been formatted as lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0, and before anyone complains about the lack of a 5.1 remix, they should first listen to this track through a good surround decoder. The track has excellent stereo separation, with clear division of the orchestral score between the left and right fronts, and occasional pans as the singers move across the stage. The sounds of the chorus are routinely routed to the surrounds, immersing the viewer in the experience as effectively as any discrete mix. The quality of the original recording is excellent, and I suspect that many listeners could easily mistake it for 5.1, if they didn't know otherwise.

A Chorus Line Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Except for a trailer (1080p; 2.35:1; 2:13), the disc contains no extras. The featurette on Marvin Hamlisch included on the 2003 MGM DVD has been omitted.

Despite the lack of extras, Fox has followed its usual poor practice with MGM catalog titles of mastering the disc with BD-Java, no main menu and no bookmarking.

A Chorus Line Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A 2008 documentary entitled Every Little Step followed the casting of the most recent Broadway revival of A Chorus Line, while also looking backward at the show's origins. The documentary captured more of the feel of the original musical than Attenborough's film, and it should be required viewing for anyone considering a second attempt at turning this classic of American musical theater into a successful film. As for the Blu-ray, it is technically satisfactory, but anyone who wonders why A Chorus Line is famous should wait for a touring company to come to town.