'Chorus Line': Not the Singular Musical in Town

Five . . . six . . . seven . . . eight!

Places, people, places. The curtains are about to open for "The Best Musical. Ever."

Actually, the curtains are going to open on almost a dozen musicals in Washington this spring.

And although the actors in "Rent," "Chicago" and "Ragtime" would almost certainly object, the folks from "A Chorus Line" probably have as good a claim as any to the "Best" accolade with which they have anointed their show.

It is, after all, the longest-running American musical Broadway has ever known. It won nine Tonys, one Pulitzer and a place in the hearts of muscle-strained dancers everywhere.

Thirty-three years after the musical's New York debut, a restaging directed by one of its original choreographers lands at the National Theatre on Tuesday.

"We figured there were a couple of whole new generations that had never seen the show and had no idea about what it was," says director Bob Avian, who won a 1976 Tony for his co-choreography of "A Chorus Line."

For the uninitiated, the show is a testament to the hard-knock lives of ambitious young dancers pouring their hearts and bodies into an audition for a spot on a Broadway chorus line.

"The show is not about bigger-than-life characters; it's about characters that are anonymous usually. They work so hard to have their dreams come true," Avian says. "So it's the 'Everyman' story."

And it's a story firmly rooted in reality. To come up with characters and storylines, "Chorus Line" creator Michael Bennett taped hours of interviews with dancers trying to make it in New York. (In fact, some of those interviews show up in an upcoming documentary about the casting of the "Chorus Line" revival. "Every Little Step," which also tells the story of the original show's conception, is coming to movie theaters in May.)

Among the original dancers was Baayork Lee, who was the inspiration for the character Connie. She played the role for many years and restaged the choreography for the revival.

"To be on 'A Chorus Line' again -- not on the stage but on the other side -- is very exciting," says Lee, who pushed for a revival for years. "To see an entirely new generation on the stage getting it, understanding it, having the passion."