“You Can’t Sit With Us” to “You Can’t Dance With Us”: Riverdale’s A Chorus Line

This year, the Theater, Dance, and Film department presents A Chorus Line, the iconic 1975 musical by Michael Bennett. Following last year’s high-energy production of Mean Girls, expectations are high, and A Chorus Line, directed by Ms. Lexie Frare and Mr. Tyler Walker and choreographed by Ms. Lauren Greeley, offers something equally entertaining yet strikingly different. Rather than centering on a single protagonist or a traditional plot, the musical turns the spotlight onto the dancers, usually overlooked as background characters, breaking down the conventions of Broadway. The show follows seventeen dancers auditioning for eight spots in the chorus line of a Broadway production, under director Zach (played by senior Ben Reich). Through a series of candid interviews and demanding dance sequences, each performer reveals their personal history, struggles, and motivations. While their stories differ, all share the same fierce determination to succeed in an unforgiving industry. By the end of the musical, not every dancer we root for achieves their dream, underscoring the harsh realities of show business and the resilience required to pursue a career as an artist.

Beginning in early November, talented members of our community put themselves on the line, auditioning to play characters dealing with an almost identical anxiety in the audition process. Senior Grace Selvers, who plays Maggie, a young shy dancer, admits that she could not relate to her character’s stress about securing a role. Selvers remarks, “The only shows I’ve ever done at Riverdale are ones where we’re always going to get a part. So I’ve never connected to this idea of your entire life and your livelihood depending on getting a role or not. It’s not just getting a lead role, she’s [Maggie’s] auditioning for the chorus. She just needs to be cast, period.” While the cast may have had trouble relating with their characters in that aspect, Selvers definitely did not need extra acting lessons to master portraying a fiery passion for the arts. With a smile, she shared that she has known the monologue that her character Maggie delivers since she was seven or eight years old, and had it memorized long before auditions commenced. 

While A Chorus Line centers on the dancers fighting to be seen, co-President of the Upper School Ben Reich’s character, director Zach, operates from the opposite side of the audition table. Reich describes Zach as “very authoritative,” explaining that he is “locked in on his job, not really focused on any outside drama,” a mindset Reich admits mirrors his own: “I tell people what to do, I’m assertive like that, and I’m also pretty focused on what I do.” Yet Reich is quick to shift the attention away from his character, a move slightly less aligned to his real personality. He emphasizes that A Chorus Line is “less about me” and more about “the actual struggles that actors, dancers, just artists in general, go through.” Though Zach may seem cold-hearted being the one making the cuts, Reich thinks his character’s moments of empathy serve as a reminder that the industry is “very difficult, and it is even difficult for the director.” As Zach learns more about the dancer’s stories, he struggles more to crush the dreams of eight talented people.  

A Chorus Line requires what in show business is called a “triple threat,” meaning someone equally skilled in acting, singing, and dancing. The plot is centered around the skill of the competing dancers and it is not to be overlooked that the cast of the Riverdale production worked to fit the “triple threat” mold. Neither Selvers nor Reich considered themselves dancers before auditions started. Reich stated dance “pushed him outside his comfort zone,” but this did not hold him back from trying out a new form of the arts. Selvers shared that she did not have the biggest growth mindset going into it, admitting she had a lot of “doubts in my mind about [her] capabilities.” Her initial doubt was pushed aside by her theater community who “supported [her] and stayed late with [her] after rehearsals and made sure [her] dance audition was perfect, gave [her] corrections, helped [her] work toward it, and now [she] feels so confident.” Selvers’ transformation into a dancer is a testament to the encouraging nature of the Riverdale community. In a production like A Chorus Line, everyone is working toward the same end goal: to make the show as great as possible. Selvers’ friends made sure she remembered she was not alone in carrying the pressure of a dazzling performance. It is no small feat that Selvers and many of her peers in musicals put in lots of time and effort to ensure the quality of the production. 

For choreographer Ms. Greeley, dance is not just the movement, but the emotional language of the show. She described dance’s role in A Chorus Line as “a little meta” explaining that choreographing a musical about dancers allows the performers to tell their stories through the very art form that defines them. Throughout rehearsals, she has watched the cast grow into a cohesive ensemble, noting with admiration that “as a unit they’ve really clicked together” and are now “telling that story as a unit in a way that is really, really fun to watch.” Because the choreography is demanding, it challenges every cast member, especially in the opening number where complex sequences of jumps, turns, and extensions must be executed by the entire cast. “They make it look easy,” Greeley said, “and it’s not easy.” Ultimately, she hopes audiences recognize both the technical difficulty of the dancing and the individuality behind it. As each performer brings their own experience and motivation to the line, Ms. Greeley wants to remind us that art mirrors life in a lot of ways so we can take away the fact that everyone is coming to any situation with their own personal experience.  

A Chorus Line reminds us that behind every performance stands someone willing to be vulnerable for the chance to be seen, a message beautifully sung in “What I Did for Love.” Whether or not each character makes the final cut at the end of the show, the dedication and courage of the performers are sure to leave a lasting impression on the audience. The musical will be performed on the 5th, 6th, and 7th of February. Attendance is strongly recommended for those who appreciate the grit it takes to pursue art, onstage and beyond.