A Natural for the Mac-Haydn

Putting on "A Chorus Line" at The Mac-Haydn Theatre is a natural. A show about kids cracking into show business, performed by kids cracking into show business is nearly irresistable.

It doesn’t hurt that "A Chorus Line" has a wonderful book, a great score, clever construction and loads of star moments.

There’s just this catch. The show demands good actors who are terrific dancers and singers. And not everyone in this company can bring that off. But the Mac-Haydn is a special place where young actors get a chance and audiences, caught up in a this-is-so-crazy-it-just-might-work atmosphere have a good time.

The show opens with an audition in a Broadway theater and the cast singing "I Hope I Get It," that desperate plea for a job on a stage: "Oh God," they sing. "I need this show."

Soon, they’re all lined up, sort of, telling their stories, which is another problem for this theater in the round. "Chorus Line" is a horizontal show. At the Mac-Haydn, the actors end up in a clump.

Still, there’s a poignance that’s hard to kill.

The story songs are suffused with ghastly memories that drive a lot of people to life in the theater: Stories of abandonment, loneliness, self-hatred that edge people into seeking love from strangers they cannot see and will never know.

Some of these characters are heartbreaking. Like Paul, wonderfully played by Juan Torres-Falcon, the kid who grew up pretending to be Cyd Charisse.

And some of the characters are hillarious, like Val (Jackie Good), who discovers the difference plastic surgery in just the right places can make in her career. And her sex life.

So, where technique flags, the stories and the music carry everything along. And certainly the central idea, that this is a love story about dance, takes everybody in, performers and audience alike.

"A Chorus Line" plays at The Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham, NY, through June 29. Coming next, "Hairspray," July 3-20.

For tickets and information, call 518-392-9292, or go to www.machaydntheatre.org)