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A Series of A Chorus Line memories by Kevin Crawfort
Entry #1
There was a lot of excitement as we flew over Paris to begin rehearsals for the World Tour of A Chorus Line. I was twenty years old, and at the time I had no idea that I was about to become a part of a group that would make such an impact on the way audiences would perceive the American Musical Theatre.
After the first day of rehearsal, it was agreed upon that we would have an hour and a half for a lunch break. It was a good thing because it took me and the other guy I understudied a half an hour just to sit down! Our bodies were SORE!! Yet, each day I grew stronger. We had warm-up before every rehearsal, but in my hotel room I did my own warm-up prior to the company warm-up. We were like soldiers in training.
The first stop was Berlin at the Theater de Westins. This was the city where I did something I had never done before . . . I stayed up all night! Carlos Lopez and I stomped all over the city of Berlin. We went to a disco after our performance and then proceeded to take our own adventure all over the city.
The next morning, it was time for the company call, and off we went to Hong Kong! What do dancers love to do as much as dancing? SHOP!!! We shopped before the show, we shopped on breaks, and they even had night markets there.
There were also many marketing opportunities. All of the understudies put on our "One" costumes for a photo call for the press, and BAM . . . our picture was in the paper to notify the city that we had arrived.
Two things still stand out for me regarding our time in Hong Kong.
On one day off, the majority of the company took a trip to the great "wall". I, on the other hand, went to the beach. I jumped into a taxi and told the driver to pick me up in two hours, and he did!
The other major memory that I have was what I ate the first day that I was there. I was dining with Carlos, and I remember saying, "These onion rings sure taste funny."
Carlos responded by saying, "It's called calamari, Kev!"
Now I'm going to jump ahead for a moment, because the photo in last week's New York Times of Ms. D'Amboise reminds me of an incident that happened at one performance at the Chatelet in Paris.
I was, at the time, the ASM, and I was the assistant to the Cassie, who happened to be Donna McKechnie. During the Cassie Dance, there was a moment when the mirrors came down on a certain note, and Cassie was surrounded by multiple mirrored images of herself.
About two counts prior to the mirrors touching the stage, Donna's shoe fell off!
I was watching this from the wings and thinking, "Oh my God, should I run onto the stage and move it out of the way?" After all, I was dressed completely in black. I couldn't move . . . I just didn't know what to do.
Well, let me tell you, she proceeded to do the dance, and when it got to the end of the number when Cassie does the double-turn/layout/soutenu series from stage left to stage right, I realized that she was turning on the foot that had no shoe on it. Donna didn't miss a beat! She wore that dance out as if she still had both of her shoes on, and the show went on!
I will send in more excerpts from glorious moments in the "old history" of A Chorus Line, because with the new company there are, and will be, new memories to add to the great history of a "little show" that revolutionized the voice of dancers.
This show created the "triple threat" performer, and advanced the progression of the American Musical Theatre!
