Every Little Step

Every Little Step, a fascinating and deeply moving evocation of a long ago time (the mid 1970s) - both documentary and musical - seemed dubious as a my-pov.ca candidate. Not that I have anything against musicals (nor documentaries), but going in, in my mind, a Star Search/American Idol survival of the fittest 'reality show' did not seem exactly my cup of tea. I was wrong (again). Every Little Step performers are the polar opposite of dorky amateurs chasing after fame and fortune on TV reality shows. Broadway hoofers - low-pay, intense self-confidence, unbelievable athleticism - are a spectacular species of entertainer. Every Little Step explores exactly what dancers will do for love.The original Chorus Line was a mix of Show biz (cattle calls, workshops, callbacks) and 1970s real life (gay-rights, sexual revolutions, group therapy). And Richard Attenborough's stagey 1985 Chorus Line captured much of the energy of the original show.

The Broadway Musical, as a genre, only lasted from say, the 1927 Kern/Hammerstein Showboat through the early sixties. Then, was done in by the Rock n' Roll revolution, the Brit Invasion (Cats, Les Miz) and Uncle Walt's Magic Kingdom. Broadway is now but a tourist's low-rent Las Vegas with a serious identity crisis. I won't go on. However, in the Broadway Musical twilight (1975), choreographer Michael Bennett and producer Joe Papp, produced Chorus Line, premised on anonymous chorus line, being the real Broadway stars. Hundreds of dancers from across the world descended on the Great White Way, each auditioning for one of 22 prized roles in the chorus of this show.

Alas, those heady times - Broadway musicals and devil-may-care sexual fecklessness are long gone. Every Little Step mirrors Broadway reality, introducing us to the behind-the-scenes chorus kids, telling us their life stories as they audition for parts that are real-life versions of a show that itself features the original cast's life stories. A house of mirrors, then. This doc traces the audition process of the 2006 Broadway revival of Chorus Line as three thousand dancers (lined up in the rain) are whittled down through a Darwinian survival of the fittest to 17. Every Little Step honours the original Michael Bennett vision. It celebrates Marvin Hamlisch's songs. So bring your box of Kleenex, this is a heartbreak and vulnerability weeper. Dancers clearly love their work more than most entertainers. They get paid a pittance, their chance of being cast is minimal, they require Olympian athleticism

Every Little Step is combination documentary/musical. And it, like the anonymous hoofer-gypsies it features - alas!- won't last long. Nevertheless, this is a sublime feel-good treat, engrossing and intense.

peter