By Shelby
Ever wonder where those uber-talented McKinley High kids on Glee might end up in a five or 10 years? It might look something like the singing version of A Chorus Line, which is playing now at Bass Concert Hall. (And for more Glee present and future, check out this spot-on analysis from The Atlantic.)
In A Chorus Line, 17 hopefuls dance, talk and sing their way through an audition for a part in the chorus of a new Broadway musical. That stage setting is spare, and the realities we come to learn of each character’s past are harsh. From brash Sheila to wounded (in more ways than one) Paul, each character gets their time to shine, be it a song, a dance or a monologue, during the audition process, and by the time the casting director is ready to name the four men and four women who have made it into the show, you genuinely care for all of them and feel bad for the ones who are sent home.
The show premiered in 1975, and in addition to the dancing, features songs from the great Marvin Hamlisch, including the famous “One,” all of which helped it earn Tony awards for best musical, book and score and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. But aside from the accolades and the Broadway setting, as cliched as it sounds, A Chorus Line really is for anyone who has ever had a dream to do anything with their lives, whether it’s making it as a dancer in New York or owning your own business or writing that Great American Novel, and how heartbreaking the loss of that dream can be. But as Diana sings in “What I Did For Love,” the dream makes all the hard work worth it, whether or not it ever comes true.
The show runs through Sunday at Bass Concert Hall on the University of Texas campus. Tickets start at $20, and you can find out more here.