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TEPS LIVE AS LYRICS FADE
By MICHAEL RIEDEL
'EVERY
Little Step," the documentary about the casting of the 2006 revival of
"A Chorus Line," is a superb chronicle of the struggles, the
desperation, the crushing defeats and the giddy triumphs of life in the
theater.
It opens this week, and for my money it's as gripping as what is perhaps the most celebrated documentary about Broadway, D.A. Pennebaker's "Original Cast Album: Company," which chronicles the recording session of Stephen Sondheim's "Company" in 1970.
At
the New York premiere of "Every Little Step" on Monday, I saw plenty of
hard-nosed theater types weeping by the end, deeply moved by the movie
-- and the musical's -- celebration of Broadway's gypsies.
But not everyone was entirely happy with the documentary.
Lyricists Jeffrey Sweet and Susan Birkenhead,
who are on the council of the Dramatist Guild, were upset that, as they
see it, "Every Little Step" gives short shrift to Ed Kleban, who wrote
the lyrics to "A Chorus Line" -- who, in fact, wrote the very phrase
"every little step."
The
movie makes skillful use of archival footage of "A Chorus Line" creator
Michael Bennett as well as contemporary interviews with composer Marvin Hamlisch and co-director Bob Avian.
Hamlisch mentions Kleban, who died in 1987, in passing, and Bennett thanks him at the 1976 Tony Awards, calling him "Ed."
But Kleban does not appear in the documentary.
Both Sweet and Birkenhead expressed their disappointment in e-mails to the Dramatist Guild, which represents writers.
The e-mails were forwarded to John Breglio, the executive producer of the documentary.
A powerful Broadway lawyer, Breglio also produced the revival of "A Chorus Line" and is the executor of Bennett's estate.
"I'm
not going after John Breglio, because he'd win," Sweet joked yesterday.
"But I was disappointed that Ed's contribution to 'A Chorus Line' --
his shaping of the material -- was not there. The voices of the living
are heard more loudly than the voices of the dead."
Birkenhead
told The Post: "It was a shock to me to see so little of Ed in the
movie. I don't think there was any malice involved. I think it was
oversight, probably the feeling that 'A Chorus Line' was Michael
Bennett's thing. But Ed was hugely instrumental in creating the show.
"I
thought it was a terrific film, but it would have been more terrific
and more moving if Ed had been included in it a little more."
Breglio, in an e-mail to the Guild, responded:
"Are
there sufficient references to or mention of Ed or Jimmy [Kirkwood, who
co-wrote the book]? On reflection, perhaps there could be more. But
what is in the film is what people said, without prodding or scripting
(there was no script, of course) and the audition process (80 percent
of the film) chronicling these young dancers and their journey.
"I
wanted this film to be, more than anything, a celebration of what it is
to be a professional actor and to refract and reflect that struggle
with 'A Chorus Line' as the backdrop.
"My
tribute to Marvin, Ed . . . Michael and Bobby, and all of the other
great artists who created 'A Chorus Line' 35 years ago, was my
production . . . which I opened on Broadway in 2006 and which is now on
a national tour.
"That is
the living and breathing embodiment of these great artists' works that
I look after and will continue to produce anywhere in the world that
will have it."
Breglio
also told me he "searched everywhere" for archival interviews with
Kleban, "and if I had found something, we certainly would have used it."
What
Breglio did have -- and what the documentary makes public for the first
time -- are Bennett's tape-recorded interviews with the real Broadway
dancers who inspired "A Chorus Line."
They met in his apartment, drank jugs of cheap red wine and spoke frankly about their lives.
The
movie opens with a shot of the tape recorder, and the very first thing
Bennett says on the tape is: "You're all very interesting people, and I
don't know what these sessions are going to become. But what I do know
is that it will be called 'A Chorus Line.' "
If that doesn't send a chill down your spine, don't bother ever going to the theater again.
