“A Chorus Line” (1975)

Michael Bennett had spent the late 1960s and early '70s building one of the most undeniable track records on Broadway: "Promises, Promises" (1968), "Coco" (1969), "Company" (1970), "Follies" (1971), "Seesaw" (1973). Still, nothing could have prepared anyone, not even Michael himself, for what would emerge in 1975. When a roomful of dancers told the truth about their lives, something was set in motion that didn't just change the form; it changed everyone who was part of it, none more profoundly than the man on the other side of the footlights. "A Chorus Line" put Michael Bennett in a different stratosphere entirely.

Filmmaker and screenwriter Paul Schrader has said that "Taxi Driver" (1976) is called "Taxi Driver"—not "The" or "A"—because anonymity is the point. The title isn’t meant to capture the main character. A similar irony lives in "A Chorus Line." Michael wanted the "A" so the show would appear first in the Broadway directory of shows; the kind of pragmatic trickery only he would think of. But there's something deeper. A chorus line is, by definition, a faceless thing. Interchangeable. And yet the entire point of the show is that these dancers are anything but.

More than 50 years later, the artists who shaped the show's legacy still have plenty to say. More stories from the collaborators and creatives who made the show what it is, and the ones making sure it's never forgotten, are on the way. Subscribe for free on the Mirror Man Substack to stay in step.