Dancers show off steps, personalities in 'A Chorus Line'

In a way, doing a piece on specific members of "A Chorus Line" is exactly what the musical is about — removing the anonymity of the dancers in a chorus.

On a stark, empty stage, 17 dancers, auditioning for a spot in the ensemble of a Broadway show, attempt to snag one of eight places available.

Pioneer Theatre Company begins its new season with a tip of the top hat to one of Broadway's most iconic musicals, "A Chorus Line" — winner of nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1976.

It's important to note that "A Chorus Line" is not a song-and-dance show, traditionally speaking. That may be hard to believe because most folks picture a cast of gold-clad dancers singing, "One, singular sensation. Every little step she takes."

But the show is about a grueling audition process in which the dancers are asked to reveal their personal histories for director, Zach.

Based on real-life stories recorded from actual talk sessions held in 1974, creator Michael Bennett went through hours of stories — putting them together for the monologues in the show.

PTC has Patti D'Beck as director/choreographer, from the original cast, who was "invited to those dance/talk sessions," she said in a phone interview on her way to rehearsal, "but I happened to be sick that weekend and didn't go. But I know all of the people who were there, they were my peers."

The questions and topics became quite personal, "and it was hard for some of them," D'Beck said. "At the audition [for the show], some of those very dancers went in to read for parts and looked at their own words in print and said, 'Michael I can't read this.' "

Eight of those dancers appeared in the original production, with D'Beck joining the cast a year later.

"The show is so special for me. I first directed it here in 1986, and it's about who I was at the time, as a dancer.

"I wanted this cast to sit down and talk about themselves, like the original cast did," she said, "I didn't get as personal, but I wanted to create that bond among the dancers."

The big question in "A Chorus Line" is: What will you do when you can't dance? "Some say they'll do it until they can't dance anymore," D'Beck said. "Others will look to teaching or choreography."