Memo from the RTC: WARNING: See A Chorus Line at Your Peril

Memo from the RTC: WARNING: See A Chorus Line at Your Peril

By Norm Scott

I have been to three performances of A Chorus Line, the runaway hit sold-out playing its final three performances Friday and Saturday nights, April 7, 8 at the RTC, with a rare Saturday 2PM matinee (no Sunday matinee due to the fact that Rene Steadman is getting married Sunday April 9 and many RTC members will be helping her and her soon-to be hubby celebrate).

I’m going nuts trying to get the songs out of my head. What exactly did I do for love, I keep asking myself? Can I really Do That? like Mike played by Nic Anthony Calabro. I keep trying to remember my good old days in the wonderful At the Ballet.  (Sheila – Avital Asuleen, Bebe – Leigh Dillon, Maggie – Chloe Carlston).

As for the show-stopping Dance: Ten; Looks: Three – watching the amazingly talented Maria Schirripa (Val) do that number resulted in every male in the house having to be hosed down. I had my own Singular Sensation watching her. And how about those Mangano gals? Nicole (Diana) sings What I did for love like a pro and Gabrielle (Kristine) dances like a pro but can’t sing (at least in this show) and demonstrates it in a magnificent Sing duet with her acting hubby Antonio Oliveri (Al), who can sing beautifully.

And who can forget those wonderful stories about growing up by Brian Sadowski (Bobby) a major find last year at the RTC in Follies and as a La Cage dancer, RTC vet James Dalid (Mark) who has his venereal disease cured in church. Anthony Melendez (Paul) was another great find a year ago as a La Cage dancer does a heart rending solo that brings himself and the audience to tears. I knew these 3 guys as dancers but holy crap, they have heavy duty acting chops too.

Newcomer Mai Odaira (Connie) is the third RTC import from Japan and brings comic relief to her role and another newcomer, Chloe Carlston (Maggie) brings yet another great singing voice to the RTC. They are joined by other newcomers Nic Anthony Calabro (Mike), Avital Asuleen (Sheila) and Ashley Ann Jones(Judy) who are all fabulous and make it even more fun to see how much amazing talent is out there and willing to come to Rockaway to perform (check their resumes in the program guide). Hoping to see these guys back again.

Well there are a lot more people I can mention but deadline is past (I’ll try to get one final Chorus Line column with more people next week) and RTC Master Builder Tony Homsey is calling for me to be at the theater for some project to keep us off the street. We start building the set for Rumors on April 12. And by the way, auditions for the summer blockbuster The Producers took place last Sunday and Monday. I didn’t make the cut as one of the old ladies seduced by Bialystok.

Norm shares how what he did for love led to his singular sensations at ednotesonline.com