"I hope I get it." That line may express the hopes of the characters in "A Chorus Line," but the performers in the touring production at the Ahmanson Theatre already have it. If you don't believe us, just consider the punishing routine these young dancers are enduring.
For each show, the principal cast performs two intermissionless hours of high-kicking dance numbers interspersed with 13 soul-searching songs. Multiply that by eight (as in performances a week), and then stretch that over 13 months and 29 cities for the national tour -- with a few days off here and there, if you're lucky.
So it was with great enthusiasm that the performers leaped at a recent invitation to spend an afternoon of leisure away from the theater. The destination? Bergamot Station in Santa Monica.
For a few blissful, work-free hours, five singular sensations (from a principal cast of 18) raced through the art gallery complex while chatting about their lives, careers and the privilege of performing in Michael Bennett's mother of all musical juggernauts. "Some of us are actually becoming our characters," said Emily Fletcher, who plays the imperious dancer-tigress Sheila. The actress demonstrated by placing her right hand on her hip and then shifting her torso into a haughty pose. "After a while, it works certain muscles. I'm developing a 'Sheila hip.' "
The first stop on their visit was the Peter Fetterman Gallery. The cast marveled at an exhibition of rare Henri Cartier-Bresson photographs, including images of Parisian street life, the countryside and famous personalities such as Truman Capote and Marilyn Monroe.
"I love the ones he took of the ballet dancers," said Nikki Snelson, who plays Cassie, a blond hoofer who has fallen on hard times and desperately needs a break.
The performer says her life parallels that of her character -- an early foray into Broadway was followed by a move to Los Angeles that proved difficult and demoralizing. That was followed by a move back to New York and having to start from scratch.
In the Frank Pictures Gallery, the cast got to pose in front of artist Ron Reihel's iridescent installations that glow in the dark and capture one's silhouette.
"Emily, do the Sheila pose!" said one of the cast members. (She happily obliged.)
The cast also got to play with gallery owner Laurie Frank's dog, Daddy, which once belonged to painter Ed Moses. But the real surprise here was Maria Munroe's "eturns" -- a set of crystalline spheres made from cremated human remains.
