Michael Bennett's legacy as a choreographer: A Chorus Line and Dreamgirls

Michael Bennett's choreography in productions such as Dreamgirls and A Chorus Line dominated the Broadway stage of the 1970s and 1980s. Along with the work of other great choreographers of the era like Bob Fosse, Bennett is credited for revolutionizing Broadway theater and the role of dance in the Broadway tradition. In A Chorus Line in particular, the dance tells the story, not plot or even song. However, unlike Fosse, Bennett did not have a style that was so distinct that it overwhelmed every production in which he was involved. Bennett tailored his choreography to the needs of the show and allowed it to reveal the themes of the production unlike Fosse's very distinctive style. Bennett's mark upon his stage shows is more subtle, but still evident.

The premise of A Chorus Line is simple: the tale unfolds the struggles of out-of-work dancers to land coveted roles in a Broadway show: they are not stars but still want to be part of the chorus line because they need to work. The production opens up with an audition scene with seemingly infinite numbers of bodies flailing around according to the instructions of the show's director. Although everyone is dancing the same dance, some dancers are stronger, others are not. Bennett's choreography, although technically a uniform exercise, is unique in the manner in which...

The audience immediately finds itself cheering for the weaker dancers and celebrating the stronger ones. The dancers first have their backs to the audience as they face the rehearsal room mirror and then suddenly the perspective of the audience flips as they face forward, so the audience gets to see the dancers in the back.
Although the ostensible purpose of the dance is uniformity on the stage, Bennett carefully creates moments when the individual characters shine through with a missed step or a glance at the audience of hope and terror. Dancers sometimes break formation in a heroic effort to stand out, yet they all sing the common refrain of desperately needing the job. The audience learns about the different characters and levels of ability of the dancers through their movements even while the number is exciting and keeps the toes of the audience tapping to the beat. Of course, A Chorus Line was far from the first Broadway musical to offer a backstage plot but rather than offering a sanitized, happy ending in which a single protagonist emerges as the star, it instead portrayed a much grittier vision of what it is like to survive as a working performer.

Over the course of the show, the different dancers emerge and reveal various personal aspects about their lives. Some, like Shelia, have a…