cover image The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line

The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line

Gary Stevens. Applause Books, $19.95 (258pp) ISBN 978-1-55783-221-4

From its opening in 1975 until the final curtain call in 1990, the musical A Chorus Line stirred audiences with its stories of aspiring Broadway dancers. This oral history combines 300 photographs (eight pages in color), memorabilia and reminiscences by 125 cast and crew members, including costume and lighting designers, musicians, press agents, understudies and stage managers. They discuss seemingly every angle--how the show affected their lives and careers, the changes in interpretation that occurred over the years, heated firings, the casting process, road tours, production problems, even drug use among cast members. Neil Simon tells how he wrote ``maybe 25 or so new lines'' at director Michael Bennett's request, which Bennett reportedly adapted or inserted into the original script by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante. All serious fans of the show will want this delightful reprise of the longest-running show in Broadway history. (Dec.)