A Chorus Line was a masterpiece of a musical on stage. It's funny, moving, and as tuneful as musicals can get. It seemed like an obvious choice to adapt into a film, despite its stage-bound origins (and there's no getting around that). Instead of embracing its claustrophobic stage roots to enhance the intensity, the film version of A Chorus Line decides to sporadically "open up" the film, cutting away from the main action on the literal chorus line and focus on one of the dancers - Cassie. We discover that Cassie was once in love with the director of this show and was a big star on Broadway for a spell before going to L.A. to make it in film and TV. She's returned after she realized that they weren't looking for her type out there in California and needs a job. Even though she's "too good" for the chorus and has already proven herself as a star, she bursts into the audition, demanding to be seen for one of the roles.
Making Cassie the lead makes sense. On stage, ensemble pieces tend to work better as the audience can choose to focus on whomever they want for the duration of a scene, but film usually demands one or two main characters at the most and these characters are supposed to dominate the film and have a goal to either attain or give up by the end of the film. Cassie was just one of the many hopeful dancers in the stage show, but putting her front and center here (and giving her the show's best known song - "What I Did For Love") makes the film feel off balance. It also doesn't help that the chemistry between Alyson Reed and Michael Douglas simply isn't there and Reed is saddled with a dud of an 11 o'clock number called "Let Me Dance For You" which replaces "The Music and the Mirror" from the stage show and has exactly the same thing to say, except in a less interesting way.
The Cassie subplot might be the film's biggest downfall, but A Chorus Line also features some of the worst musical arrangements in the history of movie musicals which robs many of the numbers of their personality, charm, and excitement. They've all been re-arranged to sound as 80's as possible and some numbers have been brutally edited down to nothing (if you're a fan of "Hello, Twelve, Hello, Thirteen", you're out of luck) or replaced with far less interesting numbers such as "Surprise" which becomes a showcase for only one of the dancers instead of giving us a number where everyone gets to have their say and we get to learn a little bit about them.
It's a great surprise that, out of all the performers in this film, Audrey Landers comes across the best. She nails the sassy sex kitten Val, has a pleasant singing voice, and isn't a half-bad dancer to boot. Other performers have their moments, but some of the stronger singers are less impressive actors and some of the better actors are less impressive singers and vice versa.
A Chorus Line is rightfully known as one of the worst movie musicals of all time, but it's not without a few bright spots.
Making Cassie the lead makes sense. On stage, ensemble pieces tend to work better as the audience can choose to focus on whomever they want for the duration of a scene, but film usually demands one or two main characters at the most and these characters are supposed to dominate the film and have a goal to either attain or give up by the end of the film. Cassie was just one of the many hopeful dancers in the stage show, but putting her front and center here (and giving her the show's best known song - "What I Did For Love") makes the film feel off balance. It also doesn't help that the chemistry between Alyson Reed and Michael Douglas simply isn't there and Reed is saddled with a dud of an 11 o'clock number called "Let Me Dance For You" which replaces "The Music and the Mirror" from the stage show and has exactly the same thing to say, except in a less interesting way.
The Cassie subplot might be the film's biggest downfall, but A Chorus Line also features some of the worst musical arrangements in the history of movie musicals which robs many of the numbers of their personality, charm, and excitement. They've all been re-arranged to sound as 80's as possible and some numbers have been brutally edited down to nothing (if you're a fan of "Hello, Twelve, Hello, Thirteen", you're out of luck) or replaced with far less interesting numbers such as "Surprise" which becomes a showcase for only one of the dancers instead of giving us a number where everyone gets to have their say and we get to learn a little bit about them.
It's a great surprise that, out of all the performers in this film, Audrey Landers comes across the best. She nails the sassy sex kitten Val, has a pleasant singing voice, and isn't a half-bad dancer to boot. Other performers have their moments, but some of the stronger singers are less impressive actors and some of the better actors are less impressive singers and vice versa.
A Chorus Line is rightfully known as one of the worst movie musicals of all time, but it's not without a few bright spots.