The Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), along with Tony Award-winning producers Christopher Ketner and Hunter Regian, have announced a one-night-only special concert “A Chorus Line Official 50th Anniversary Celebration.” The performance will be held on July 27 at 7:30PM ET at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre, currently home to “Hell’s Kitchen” and “A Chorus Line’”s Broadway home for 15 years from 1975 to 1990.
Benefitting Entertainment Community Fund programs serving dancers, the concert will star original 1975 Broadway cast members Kelly Bishop, Wayne Cilento, Baayork Lee, Priscilla Lopez and Donna McKechnie, with special performances by Charlotte d’Amboise, Jessica Lee Goldyn, Robyn Hurder, Francis Jue, Krysta Rodriguez, Jessica Vosk, Anthony Wayne, Tony Yazbeck and Leigh Zimmerman. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
The evening will be directed by original cast member Baayork Lee, who will also remount the original Michael Bennett and Bob Avian choreography.
“It has been an honor to spend the last 50 years of my life bringing “A Chorus Line” around the world,” said Lee in a statement. “It warms my heart to celebrate this milestone at our original home of 15 years, the Shubert Theatre. I know Michael (Bennett) and Bob (Avian) are smiling down knowing their legacy continues on. Here’s to another 50 years.”
Originally conceived by Michael Bennett with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban and a book by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, “A Chorus Line” opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on July 25,1975. Directed by Bennett and co-choreographed by Bennett and Bob Avian, the production garnered 12 Tony Award nominations and won nine: Best Musical, Direction, Choreography, Book, Score, Lighting, Leading Actress (Donna McKechnie), Featured Actor (Sammy Williams) and Featured Actress (Kelly Bishop). It ran for 15 years and was the longest-running Broadway show when it closed on April 28, 1990, playing 6,137 performances.
This article previously appeared on Broadway.com.
