REVIEW: A Chorus Line of gigantic Filipino talent dazzles Manila
The ease in which talent is consistently displayed in Theatre Group Asia's staging of A Chorus Line is staggering. The nine-time Tony Award-winning musical is a well-oiled production in itself, having been on Broadway for 15 consecutive years. But to have such effortless flair in its first Manila show deserves a standing ovation at every turn.
It flows from the top. Emmy Award-winning Filipino-American choreographer Karla Puno Garcia was handpicked by Theatre Group Asia to direct and choreograph this demonstration of Filipino creativity.
"We would never have considered doing this without Karla," Theatre Group Asia co-founder and creative director, and Tony Award-winner Clint Ramos told PhilSTAR L!fe. "She is a creative force. And I think it's time Manila met her in her full glory."
Leading Garcia's cast are two other Fil-Am artistic heavyweights: theater, film, and television veteran Conrad Ricamora, as director Zach, and Broadway triple threat Lissa De Guzman, playing Cassie Ferguson, a seasoned dancer down on her luck.
Together with a powerful 17-member mostly Filipino ensemble picked from the US and all over the Philippines, they present a musical that likes to tell its story between the lines. Key to such a witty production is a tremendously gifted cast that thinks as one, which is what Theatre Group Asia's A Chorus Line has.
Beyond this, the main selling point of the musical is its commitment to drawing in the audience so that everyone in the theater feels like they are part of it.
A Chorus Line takes place in one single audition, where amateur dancers try their luck for a spot in the ensemble of a Broadway musical. From the moment Ricamora's Zach yells, "5, 6, 7, 8," at his auditioning dancers, soon after the curtain rises, he gives every member of the audience a seat beside him on the casting bench.
There is much anticipation from the house, especially since I Hope I Get It has some of the most recognizable opening notes in the history of musical theater.
The notion of being "in with the cool kids" persists throughout both acts of the musical, as Zach spends most of them in the house among the audience, pacing up and down the aisles while he spews instructions at the dancers onstage. At some points, he stands in the shadows, intentionally unlit, so that it's just his voice that controls the room.
This is where Ricamora's power as a performer lies.
"I have to have a presence that commands authority over this huge cast...How do you command a room when you don't have a song or don't have a dance to do?" Ricamora told L!fe in a previous interview. "I've been finding the power in stillness a lot of times."
In one of the more emotionally charged scenes, Ricamora's Zach and De Guzman's Cassie share a long moment, with Cassie on a sparse stage and Zach in a balcony box. Their chemistry is so palpable that the audience, sitting right in the middle of their conversation, might almost feel like they're trespassing into private territory. But it's the one place where eavesdropping brings zero guilt.
As De Guzman performs The Music and The Mirror, the audience can feel how comfortable she is in a musical, as if she has come home. Her mastery of the stage is an earned skill. Apart from several major theater credits, including playing Ann Darrow in King Kong on Broadway, De Guzman was the first Filipino to play Wicked's Elphaba on its national Broadway tour.
Although it's an ensemble—and in such a group, it's easy to disappear—each character gets to carve their own story onstage without disrupting the balance of the show. Heartbreaking monologues, solo and ensemble dances, and funny one-liners are delivered so excellently that by the curtain call, the audience bears the secrets of multiple dancing strangers they just met a couple of hours ago.
In a media briefing two weeks prior to opening night, the cast spoke at length about how connected to each other they felt. It wasn't just a line. The strong bond was front and center throughout the show. By the time seasoned TV, film, and theater actress Christina Glur, as Diana, effortlessly led the ensemble through What I Did For Love, their harmony, evident to the audience, drew from a deep well of camaraderie.
Toward the end comes closure—some bitter, some not—along with a hint of a beginning, subtly conveyed by Zach through what he leaves unsaid.
A parting treat comes in the way of a full reprise of Marvin Hamlisch and Ed Kleban's masterpiece One, where Ricamora gets to join the fun and perform with the whole cast.
If there's one thing A Chorus Line needs to improve on, it's to add a rewind button so audience members can watch a riveting dance sequence again or listen, ad infinitum, to a character bare their soul through a song. Lacking the button, audiences will just have to watch the musical again, or clamor for a restaging.
Theatre Group Asia's A Chorus Line runs until March 29 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater, Circuit Makati. Purchase your tickets at TicketWorld.