Trailer
Plot summary
After the first cuts at a Broadway theater, sixteen dancers remain, competing for eight places in a new musical, four men and four women, with Larry, Zach's assistant, working alongside them. Zach, the director, sits in the audience and has each of them step forward to introduce themselves, drawing out stories about their families, their first sexual experiences and the hardships they have faced. Cassie arrives late; she was once a lead dancer, and she and Zach had a turbulent romance before she left for Hollywood. She has not worked in more than a year, and she pleads to stay in the audition.
Cast
- Pam Klingeras Maggie Winslow
- Yamil Borgesas Diana Morales
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Chorus Line (1985)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In February 1984, according to Attenborough, the singer Madonna auditioned at the Royale Theatre on Broadway for a dance role in the movie using her birth name of Ciccone. He rejected her.
- Screenwriter Arnold Schulman said that after Lear and Perenchio put up the money they sold their company to Columbia, which "wanted nothing to do with A Chorus Line", so "every single element was fighting with every other element" and all the pressure landed on Attenborough.
- Michael Bennett, the stage musical's director, was hired as producer and director of the film but declined to take part when his proposal to present the movie as an audition to cast the film version of the play, rather than a literal translation of it, was rejected.
- Universal Pictures acquired the rights for $5.5 million, on top of royalties of 20% of the distributor's gross rentals above $30 million.
- The stage musical was one of the early productions to address the subject of gay actors within the theater, but the film version dealt less with their experiences in order to make a more "family friendly" film.
- "What I Did for Love", the show's breakout tune, was originally performed by Diana as a paean to dancers and their dedication to their craft, but in the film it becomes a wistful love song by Cassie about Zach as she leaves the stage.
