“A Chorus Line” feels dated

HARTFORD — Superlatives abound whenever “A Chorus Line” is mentioned — “Longest Running Broadway Show Ever” — “Best Musical Ever” — Pulitzer prize-winning musical — nine Tony Awards, and the list goes on.
Despite these accolades, unfortunately this 1975 musical, playing at the Bushnell’s Mortensen Theater through Sunday, feels dated and dull.
It originally hit the scene when the old-fashioned musicals, with their stylized glamour and glitz, were fading, and a new, grittier theater scene was emerging.
“A Chorus Line” is a bit of a transition piece in Broadway history, bridging the gap of the past to the future. As one of the characters observes — Robert Goulet is out, and Steve McQueen is in.
The musical must have been revolutionary in its time with the dancers revealing their personal lives, coming out of the closet and so forth, but in 2009 it feels like an Oprah episode with some high kicks.
The show starts out with a bang with some incredible dancing by the ensemble cast, but then stagnates into one monologue followed by another. And then another.
Set in 1975, a group of 17 dancers are auditioning for a show. The director in the musical, Zach, played as well as could be expected by Sebastian La Cause, goes into the audience during a dance audition and starts creepily asking the dancers to talk about their personal lives, like it is a therapy session. And one by one by one by one all seventeen to various degrees, tell their sad, angst-ridden, depressing tales. Half as many would have gone twice as far.
The music, by Marvin Hamlisch, is kind of a combination of a 1970’s television variety show — “The Jackie Gleason Show” with his June Taylor Dancers comes to mind, and part disco, with synthesizers and sparkly mirrors.
When the director selects which dancers he wants, it feels eerily similar to the reality television shows of today, like “Project Runway” and “Top Design.”
The adult language and topics are definitely for mature audiences only.
There are the emblematic, however time-worn songs “One” “What I Did for Love,” “Dance: Ten; Looks; Three,” and “The Music and the Mirror,” but they aren’t enough to pull this show through those deadening monologues.
No doubt “A Chorus Line” definitely had its day, but it’s not today.

A CHORUS LINE

2 Stars
Theater: The William H. Mortensen Hall at the Bushnell Memorial Center
Location: 166 Capitol Ave. Hartford
Production: Originally co-choreographed and directed by Bob Avian. Book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante. Music by Marvin Hamlisch. Lyrics by Edward Kleban. Music direction by John C. O’Neil.
Running time: 2 hours, with no intermission
Show Times: Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinee performances Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., through Mar. 29.
Tickets: From $20 to $65. Call 860-987-5900 or visit their website at www.bushnell.org. Adult language, for mature audiences only.
ACTOR…CHARACTER
Sebastian La Cause … Zach
Robyn Hurder … Cassie
Gabrielle Ruiz … Diana
Shannon Lewis … Sheila
Anthony Wayne … Richie
Mindy Dougherty … Val