Chorus Line

Michael Bennett's history-making "A Chorus Line" opens at Chesapeake Music Hall tomorrow for a two-month run on weekends through Nov. 18. When the show opened on Broadway in 1975, it broke ground as a concept musical with neither story nor stars. Twenty-five years later, "A Chorus Line" retains its power as an honest, affectionate commentary on the lives of "gypsies" (a theatrical term for chorus dancers). In addition to portraying the dancers accurately, Bennett, the pre-eminent choreographer of the 1960s, did some innovative "cinematic staging" for this show and introduced the use of mirrors to expand the stage and add Broadway razzmatazz.

One thing that Ebenezer Scrooge does not get is a good night's sleep. That's because pesky ghosts keep appearing with reminders that he needs to reconsider his grumpy life. Ever since Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" in 1843, audiences have enjoyed accompanying Scrooge on his overnight ethical transformation. You have yet another opportunity to ride along in the musical theater version of "A Christmas Carol" that's being festively staged at Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia.

IF YOU'RE LOOKING for something different to do tomorrow night, why not check out Christopher's nightclub in Cockeysville? Starting around 11 p.m., the cast of "A Chorus Line," now being staged at the Lyric, will be entertaining with a medley of show tunes.The action's being staged as a benefit for AIDS Action Baltimore and Actors Equity Fights AIDS, says Christopher's Marc Loundas. A $10 donation will be taken at the door.*RADIO ACTIVITY: Vice President Dan Quayle will be joining Gov. William Donald Schaefer, U.S. Representative Helen Bentley and some survivors of Pearl Harbor on the "Les Kinsolving Show" on WCBM-AM Friday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.The show will be broadcast live from the Coast Guard Cutter Taney, the only warship still afloat that was in combat action at Pearl Harbor, now retired in Baltimore's Harbor.

Long before ecdysiast Blaze Starr became the reigning Queen of The Block, there was the legendary Bettye Mills, who arose from humble Pigtown origins to become one of the tenderloin district's more memorable characters and nightclub owners — which in those days The Baltimore Sun politely called "cabarets. " What brought Mills' name back in the news was the death earlier this month of her son-in-law, James Thomas Lee "Jimmy" Stubbs, 95, who in the late 1940s was day manager of Mills' Stork Club, whose name was later changed to the Bettye Mills' Club.

Is there any reason why "A Chorus Line" won't still be playing somewhere in the world in the 21st century? Having set a record as the longest running Broadway show with its amazing New York run from 1975 to 1990, this landmark musical is still generating globe-trotting touring productions.The company that opened at a nearly full Lyric Opera House last night marks the fifth time this self-described "singular sensation" of a musical has played Baltimore. Directed and choreographed for this tour by Baayork Lee, who originated the role of Connie on Broadway, the latest edition of the Michael Bennett-conceived show features a number of performers who are themselves "Chorus Line" veterans.

With its plot about conformity and fitting into a faceless chorus, "A Chorus Line" may be more appropriate to the 1990s than 1975, when it opened.Yet while the show's auditioning dancers, like many of today's college students, are focused on their careers and "fitting in," what "A Chorus Line" is really about is maintaining individuality.This point is irrevocably driven home in the final scene of the touring production playing a one-week run at the Mechanic Theatre. Clad in gold spangly costumes for the big number we watched them learn earlier in the show, the dancers come out looking exactly the way they're supposed to -- identical and indistinguishable.

Long before The Real World, Survivor, or American Idol, a phenomenally popular reality show was running in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. That show was called A Chorus Line, and it changed the face of Broadway. A Chorus Line focused on the true-to-life stories of ordinary people - in this case, 17 young dancers desperate to establish a toe-shoe hold in their chosen profession. For one woman (named "Sheila" in the show), the ballet studio provides a refuge from her parents' unhappy marriage.

A review of "A Chorus Line" at Chesapeake Music Hall in the July 24 Arundel edition of The Sun misspelled an actor's name. Her name is Andrea Elward. Also, two characters in the show, Bobby and Mark, became conflated in the editing process.The Sun regrets the errors.Chesapeake Music Hall, which just presented one milestone in musical theater history, "Oklahoma!," has opened another.With "A Chorus Line," the company has moved from the first show to integrate songs into a plot to move the action to a landmark concept musical, with neither story nor stars.

Mary J. Schuler, a homemaker who in her youth danced on the stage of the Hippodrome Theatre, died of bladder cancer Aug. 24 at her Arnold home. She was 84. She was born Mary Jean Manlove in Cecilton and raised on Lafayette Avenue in Baltimore. She graduated from Western High School in 1939. From 1938 to 1940, she tap-danced in the Hippodrome chorus line in shows, including appearances by Betty Grable and Red Skelton, family members said. She was married in 1960 to Victor F.

More than 33 years after it was first performed, and despite being entrenched in the music and mores of the 1970s, A Chorus Line remains a deeply satisfying theatrical experience. The audience still has the pleasure of peering into the hearts of 16 strangers in the space of a little more than two hours. Their stories are surprising, touching and funny, and so quirky they could only be true. For instance, the prepubescent boy who diagnoses his appendicitis from a medical textbook comes from the life of the original choreographer, Michael Bennett.

Opening next Friday Away We Go: (Focus Features) Soon-to-be parents travel across the country to find the perfect place to start their new family. With John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. Easy Virtue: (Sony Pictures Classics) A stuffy English family is perturbed when the favorite son brings home his enlightened American bride. With Jessica Biel and Ben Barnes. The Proposal: (Touchstone Pictures) A hard-charging book editor hatches a plan to marry her young assistant to avoid being deported to Canada.

Every Little Step is an entrancing exploration of that elusive bit of magic known as "star power." Its presence - and absence - comes through again and again in this documentary about hopeful young performers vying for coveted spots in the 2006 Broadway revival of A Chorus Line. Over eight months, the revival's producers winnowed 3,000 candidates down to just 19 cast members, and much of the fun for the audience comes in comparing our own assessments of individual performers with those of the show's creative team.

Michael Bennett always thought of his groundbreaking 1974 musical A Chorus Line as a documentary. Now, thanks to filmmakers James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, it is. The movie, Every Little Step, which opens Friday at the Charles Theatre, takes the idea that made A Chorus Line such a smash success and goes one kick combination further. For A Chorus Line, Bennett compiled hundreds of hours of interviews with the "theater gypsies" of the era, aspiring dancers competing for tiny roles in big-budget productions.

More than 33 years after it was first performed, and despite being entrenched in the music and mores of the 1970s, A Chorus Line remains a deeply satisfying theatrical experience. The audience still has the pleasure of peering into the hearts of 16 strangers in the space of a little more than two hours. Their stories are surprising, touching and funny, and so quirky they could only be true. For instance, the prepubescent boy who diagnoses his appendicitis from a medical textbook comes from the life of the original choreographer, Michael Bennett.

Long before The Real World, Survivor, or American Idol, a phenomenally popular reality show was running in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. That show was called A Chorus Line, and it changed the face of Broadway. A Chorus Line focused on the true-to-life stories of ordinary people - in this case, 17 young dancers desperate to establish a toe-shoe hold in their chosen profession. For one woman (named "Sheila" in the show), the ballet studio provides a refuge from her parents' unhappy marriage.

Mary J. Schuler, a homemaker who in her youth danced on the stage of the Hippodrome Theatre, died of bladder cancer Aug. 24 at her Arnold home. She was 84. She was born Mary Jean Manlove in Cecilton and raised on Lafayette Avenue in Baltimore. She graduated from Western High School in 1939. From 1938 to 1940, she tap-danced in the Hippodrome chorus line in shows, including appearances by Betty Grable and Red Skelton, family members said. She was married in 1960 to Victor F.

FOR WANDA Richert-Preston, playing the character of Cassie in the musical "A Chorus Line" is always one joyful, singular sensation.Although she created the lead role of Peggy Sawyer in the original Broadway production of "42nd Street" (for which she won a Tony Award nomination and a Theatre World Award), the singer/dancer considers "A Chorus Line" her favorite show.The shapely, platinum blond has been performing the role of the fallen star intermittently for the past five years. "Cassie is the part of a lifetime," she says.

''A Chorus Line'' is one of those shows you can see year after year, so long as it is done well, and it is being done very well at the Lyric Opera House.This is the fifth time the musical has played Baltimore, and, again, it is most welcome. Some of the voices are not that true, but these same people dance like troupers, and that's where ''A Chorus Line'' matters, the dance.The show opened on Broadway in 1975. It ran there for 15 years and is the longest-running production Broadway has ever known.

A Chorus Line' The Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, a nonprofit outdoor theater located near Annapolis City Dock, is presenting A Chorus Line at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 3. Tickets are $15 general admission, and $12 for students and people older than age 60. 410-268-9212.

"One singular sensation" strikes me as aptly describing Annapolis Summer Garden's A Chorus Line, which is "second best to none" of the shows I've caught over the past decade at the City Dock outdoor theater. Winner of countless awards when it opened in 1975, A Chorus Line was conceived, directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett and ran for 15 years on Broadway. The show was the most successful concept musical, telling about dancers vying to be in the chorus of a new Broadway show. The music by Marvin Hamlisch is almost continuous, and the song lyrics by Edward Kleban are the drama.