EVERY LITTLE STEP
Produced & Directed by James D. Stern & Adam Del Deo
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
USA. 96 min. Rated PG-13
 

There are two types of people in this world: those who hear “…5, 6, 7, 8!” and just hear numbers, and those who get the chills and prepare to dance. If you’re in the second group, you will love Every Little Step, a documentary about the history of A Chorus Line and the casting process for the 2006 revival.

Choreographer Michael Bennett created the 1975 musical about the lives of Broadway dancers from the real-life stories of his colleagues, all caught on tape during a long winter night. The stories Bennett coaxed out of the men and women tell familiar tales of heartbreak, disaster, and the search for meaning and self-respect in a profession where rejection is the norm and a job interview means being told you’re not good enough, you’re not tall enough, you’re not pretty enough, you’re not man enough.

Directors James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo weave interviews with principals from the original production with the long months of auditions for the latest Broadway production that winnowed 3,000 hopefuls down to the 19 final cast members. Along the way, composer Marvin Hamlisch reveal little bits of what goes into making a show work—how a title change saved one song, or why the original ending was changed. Meanwhile, the audition process reveals what a fine line it is between winning a part and coming in second, or unemployed.

In some cases it is easy—the audience feels as much relief as the casting director and production staff when, after listening to a series of singers painfully botch the climactic note of “At the Ballet,” one woman finally executes it with such ease you almost expect her to yawn afterwards. And after listening to a group of young men stumble zombie-like through the first few lines of Paul’s monologue—one of the emotional high points of the show—a young man comes in and nails it with such genuine feeling that everyone at the casting table is left in tears (not to mention yours truly).

With other roles, the casting people are left to try to choose between two or three equally talented performers with the only difference being the personal qualities they bring to the role, that special something that directors are always looking for but don’t know what it is until they see it. In two particularly wrenching cases, the actresses aren’t able to bring to the final callback what they had at the previous audition. For them, the line between success and failure is so fine as to be almost unbearable.

Almost unbearable—because in an epilogue, we see that they bear it, and keep on going, because at heart, every performer is an unrelenting optimist. You have to be in order to survive and justify what you’re doing, to give meaning to that waitressing job and broken-down apartment with five roommates.

Every Little Step obviously has appeal to anyone who lives that life, or who has lived it, or loves theater. For the rest of the world—even those who cringe at the idea of watching people dance and sing the same songs over and over—there  will be the drama of watching the prospective cast members and wondering who will come out with the coveted roles. At some time or another, we are all standing on some line, wishing, and hoping “God, I hope I get it.” Kirsten Anderson
April 17, 2009