As previously tipped, Michael Bennett’s Tony Award-winning production of A Chorus Line will be revived in London for the first time next year, opening at the West End’s London Palladium on 19 February 2013 (previews from 2 February).
The long-rumoured revival is being directed by Bob Avian, who also helmed the 2006 Tony-nominated Broadway production. Avian was Bennett’s long-term collaborator and his co-choreographer on the original production.
A Chorus Line won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama when it opened on Broadway in 1975 and went on to become the then longest-running musical on Broadway, reaching 6,137 performances. It transferred to the West End the following year, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
The show – which takes a behind-the-scenes look at 17 hopefuls auditioning for just eight places in a new Broadway musical – has a book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Date, with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban. Its famous score includes numbers such as “I Hope I Get It”, “Sing!” and, most memorably, “One (Singular Sensation)”.
In 1985, it was made into a Hollywood film directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Michael Douglas as the demanding director putting his dancers – including one ex-lover – through their paces.
The West End production is being dedicated to composer Hamlisch, who died in August this year.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose Really Useful Group owns the 2,280-seat Palladium, said: “Marvin Hamlisch was a great friend and supporter in my early career and I can think of no more fitting tribute to him than this major revival.”
A Chorus Line is being produced by Mark Goucher, Adam Kenwright, ACT Productions, Tim Lawson, Daniel Sparrow & Mike Walsh Productions by special arrangement with John Breglio and A Chorus Line Broadway.
It will be preceded at Palladium, currently dark following the closure of The Wizard of Oz, by Scrooge the Musical starring Tommy Steele, which runs from 24 October 2012 to 5 January 2013.
The venue became available following last week’s announcement that Sam Mendes’ new production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which had previously been scheduled to open at the Palladium, will now premiere at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in June.
A Chorus Line is booking until 13 July 2013.
Tickets for A Chorus Line at the London Palladium go on sale Friday (7 September 2012) at 9am. Click here to buy through Whatsonstage.com.
