Step on It!

Remember the elation you felt watching the first Rocky flick? That same intense emotional high permeates almost every frame of Every Little Step, the new documentary about the creation of the 2006 Broadway revival of A Chorus Line that opens theatrically on Friday, April 17. Just as the late Michael Bennett’s original groundbreaking stage musical took audiences into the emotional lives of the performers in a brand new way over 30 years ago, this film — an obvious labor of love from director/producers James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo — brings the audience directly into the audition process, revealing pathos, heartbreak, and joy, even if viewers already know who was cast in the show.

While the whole audition-to-Broadway format alone would have warmed the heart of any theatergoer who ever thrilled to the show’s singular sensation, the film might simply have played like a big-screen version of the BBC’s reality show Any Dream Will Do or NBC’s Grease: You’re the One That I Want, were it not for the magnificent archival audio and visual footage of A Chorus Line‘s original production that is interpolated throughout the film. Indeed, viewers actually get to hear for the first time the tapes of some of the 19 dancers gathered in January of 1974 at the Nickolaus Exercise Center on East 23rd Street by Bennett, unaware that their soul-bearing stories would become (often verbatim) the blueprint for a show that would go on to win nine Tony Awards plus the Pulitzer Prize, and run for over 15 years.

Just as in A Chorus Line, the eager applicants for the revival get to tell a little of their life stories — with some of the performers even filmed getting ready at home and ultimately getting that “you got the part” call. Wisely, the directors follow not only the journeys of a few of the winners — Charlotte D’Amboise (Cassie), Deidre Goodwin (Sheila), Jessica Lee Goldyn (Val), Chryssie Whitehead (Kristine), and Yuka Takara (Connie) — but also the ups and downs experienced by such top-tier talents as Natascia Diaz, Nikki Snelson, and Rachelle Rak, all of whom were ultimately not cast in the show.

Were all of this not enough for one 95-minute film, Every Little Step also offers probing interviews with the show’s composer Marvin Hamlisch, as well as Tony Award winner Donna McKechnie — the show’s original Cassie and later Bennett’s wife — who constantly reminds us of the ins-and-outs of the original workshop process. (There’s also a spectacular clip of her original performance of her showstopping number “The Music and the Mirror.”)

Even more pertinent is the footage of both the revival’s dynamic choreographer Baayork Lee — who originally created and played the character of Connie — who struts her stuff in front of her potential dancers, barking out, “Don’t do Cats hands!” in a voice that belies her petite stature, and its director (and Bennett’s longtime colleague) Bob Avian, who seems to want everyone to succeed. Nowhere is that clearer than during a heart-stopping performance of Paul’s monologue by Jason Tam, which literally brings a tear to Avian’s eye and gets the young actor the role on the spot!

In short, Every Little Step is a rousing paean to the theatrical process.