ACCORDING TO THE CHORUS


Backstage comedies pretty much have me at hello. No wonder then that I’ve fallen head over Capezios for According To The Chorus, Arlene Hutton’s captivating journey back in time to Broadway circa 1984, the latest World Premiere delight from North Hollywood’s Road Theatre Company.

Audrey (Avery Clyde) and Brenda (Amy Tolsky) have spent umpteen years behind the scenes as Broadway dressers, making chorus girls’ lives that much easier by assisting them with quick changes even as costumes left unhung, food wrappers left anywhere other than in trash bins, and other assorted misdeeds give the two dressers plenty to gripe about.

And if the chorus girls weren’t already a big enough headache, Audrey and Brenda now have to train KJ (Samantha Tan), freshly arrived from the New York Opera, on the way things get done on Broadway, not to mention how to deal with the dancers themselves.

The chorines in question are ditzy Linda (Julia Manis), chocoholic Monica (Gloria Ines), Jessica (Kristyn Evelyn), who’s just closed on a new co-op, ensemble newcomer Nicki (Jacqueline Misaye), original cast member Joyce (Sorel Carradine), and “swing” Stacie (Mara Klein), trapped in an abusive relationship.

Completing the cast are occasional drop-by visitors Mallory (Maria Spassoff), the glamorous star of the show, long-suffering stage manager Van (Danny Lee Gomez), and KJ’s gay ex-husband Peter (Juan Pope), who’s just replaced the latest male cast member felled by the ongoing AIDS epidemic.

All of the above form part of the onstage and behind-the-scenes team of a period musical that sounds a lot like 42nd Street, if that 1930s classic were set in the ‘40s. (Diva Mallory seems poised to step into Dorothy Brock’s shoes when she heads back upstage to her star’s dressing room.)

Over the course of According To The Chorus’s lickety-split ninety-five minutes, playwright Hutton, who based KJ on her own backstage-on-Broadway experiences in the ‘80s, allows us to get to know these chorus girls up close and personal as they carp about Audrey’s unwillingness to get them new anti-slip shoe rubbers, discuss their periods, comment on various audience members, complain about garbled announcements sent through an always on-the-fritz monitor, and worry that the show they’re in just might be closing after all these years.

And throughout all the lighthearted chitchat and friendly (and not so friendly) bickering, AIDS casts its dark shadow, a reminder of the epidemics profound impact on the arts community.

All of this adds up to as deliciously entertaining an evening of theater as anyone could wish for, directed by Emily Chase with attention to both character and detail.

Ten of the most fabulous actresses in town bring to vibrant life a cast of characters that anyone who’s ever spent time in a dressing room or green room will instantly recognize.

Add to that two terrific male costars and Gidget Carradine as Olivia the Dog, the cutest and best-behaved pooch ever to grace the Road Theater stage, and you’ve got a dream ensemble only an elite L.A. theater can offer.

As always, the Road delivers not just in the direction-performance department but in production design as well, beginning with scenic designer Paul Dufresne and properties designer Jessica Jade Andres’s meticulous replication of a Broadway quick-change room, one that features hanger after hanger of Michèle Young’s period-perfect 1940s/1980s show costumes and Judi Lewin’s just-right hair, wig, and makeup designs. (That Dufresne’s set features an upstairs hallway and shrinks miraculously midway through to about 70% of its original dimensions are two more reasons to rave.)

Add to this Christopher Moscatiello’s equally detailed sound design and Arian Saleh’s original background score and you’ve got a production design as fabulous as the play it supports.

Last but not least, According To The Chorus benefits too from choreographer Cheryl Baxter and movement coach Carradine. (Sorel, not Gidget.)

Janet Chamberlain, Christian Prentice, Lauren Schaffel and Brittany Visser are swings.

According To The Chorus is produced by Laura Gardner, Taylor Gilbert, and Danna Hyams. Maurie Gonzalez is production stage manager. Lila Zamani-Morfin served as rehearsal stage manager. Brian Graves is technical director. Darryl Johnson is project coordinator. David Elzer is publicist.

Having spent time in my fair share of time in dressing rooms and green rooms, I found According To The Chorus particularly up my alley. But even if the closest you’ve come to either of these backstage areas is outside the stage door, Arlene Hutton’s all-around winner of a play may well have you too at hello.

The Road Theatre, NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood.
www.RoadTheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
October 21, 2022
Photos: Elizabeth Kimball, Peggy McCartha

 

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