A Chorus Line is a
musical about seventeen
Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a
chorus line. The book was authored by
James Kirkwood, Jr. and
Nicholas Dante, lyrics were written by
Edward Kleban, and music was composed by
Marvin Hamlisch.
With nineteen main characters, it is set on the bare stage of a Broadway
theatre during an
audition for a musical. The show provides a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers.
The original
Broadway production, directed and choreographed by
Buffalo, N.Y. native
Michael Bennett, was an unprecedented box office and critical hit, receiving 12
Tony Award nominations and winning nine of them, in addition to the 1976
Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It ran for 6,137 performances, becoming the longest-running production in Broadway history up to that time. It remains the longest running Broadway musical originally produced in the United States, and the
fourth longest-running Broadway show ever. The show has enjoyed many successful productions worldwide and was revived on Broadway in 2006.