She realises that ballet is a relief from her family life. Sheila’s mother married at a young age and her father neither loved nor cared for them. The girls start to open up and sing AT THE BALLET, a poignant tribute to the escape Sheila, Bebe, and Maggie found in the beauty of ballet. Zach starts to question the girls and becomes angry since he thinks that the candidates do not take the audition seriously. The seventeen dancers’ inner misgivings about this strange audition process (AND), but they all need the job so the session continues. Certain he could do it too, he took her place one day when she refused to go to class – and he stayed the rest of his life. Next, I CAN DO THAT has Mike recall his first experience with dance, watching his sister’s dance class when he was a pre-schooler. The first candidate is Bobby, who tries to hide the unhappiness of his childhood by making jokes. While the show uses different characters to move through the audition, the overall pattern of stories progresses chronologically from early life experiences through adulthood to the end of a career. In order to get this job, they must put themselves on the line. The dancers eventually surge forward into a line, holding their eight-by-ten inch head shots in front of them.Īfter the director, Zach, informs the dancers that he wants to know more about them, they begin with great reluctance to talk, revealing portions of their life stories.
A rehearsal piano plays as groups of dancers in rehearsal clothes vanish and reappear. The whole group is ready – and… a-five, six, seven, eight…In I HOPE I GET IT, we are watching the beginning of the final phase of a Broadway tryout. They are then told to talk about themselves. The director tells them he is looking for a strong dancing chorus of four boys and four girls, and he wants to learn more about them. The production closed on 28 April 1990, running for a total of 6 137 performances.Īt an audition for an upcoming Broadway production, a director and a choreography assistant choose seventeen dancers. The original Broadway production opened on 25 July 1975 and was directed and choreographed by Michael Bennet.
Book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante.