The 2026 Cougar Theatre Company Spring musical this year is… drumroll please… A Chorus Line!(teen edition, of course, to keep it clean). It is directed by Mrs. Herron, and the student orchestra is conducted by Miss Fretz. Performances are in a week – at 7pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday – on the 26th, 27th, and 28th of February.
Before seeing any performance, it is helpful to be acquainted with the material and history of the show. Michael Bennett’s A Chorus Line, originally performed at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway in July of 1975, was an unexpected box office and critical hit, winning nine out of its twelve Tony Award nominations that year. Running for 6,137 performances, the original broadway run became the longest-running Broadway production in history (before being topped by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats in 1997), and is the seventh-longest-running Broadway show ever as of 2026. It began a lengthy run in the West End in 1976, winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical, and was revived on Broadway in 2006, and in the West End in 2013.
Music: Marvin Hamlisch
Lyrics: Edward Kleban
Book: James Kirkwood Jr. & Nicholas Dante
A Chorus Line, set on a strikingly bare stage, follows an audition for an unspecified new Broadway musical being conducted by director of said musical, Zach. The audience learns the stories of the seventeen dancers remaining in the final round of auditions as Zach encourages them to “[not] act, just talk.” Among them are Sheila, Maggie, and Bebe, who, in their childhoods, shared ballet as an escape from their complicated home lives. Val songs about getting plastic surgery all over her body to get jobs. The 4’10 Connie laments how her height closed doors in the performing arts for her. Diana sings about her awful high school acting teacher. Paul delivers a heartbreaking monologue about his early career in a drag act, facing his homosexuality, and his parents ultimately disowning him for his lifestyle, before breaking down. Cassie, an auditionee who had a romantic past with Zach, begs him for a chance to return to the chorus line she so loves after her failure as a solo star. During a tap number, a fall injures Paul’s knee, ending his career, and Zach forces the dancers to reflect on the sacrifices they made to chase their dreams in the profound What I Did For Love. And finally, after the eight remaining dancers are cast, they all perform the iconic closing number One.
A Chorus Line has remained in the hearts of performers and audiences alike for over fifty years now, and it is worth examining what makes it to special. To begin, it is necessary to understand the titular “chorus line”. A chorus line in musical theater is a group of dancers, sometimes also singing, who back the star in extravagant musical numbers, often in a line. Being a chorus line member can be frustrating, as you never get a chance to shine. There can only be one star. In One, the auditionees sing;
“One moment in her presence
And you can forget the rest.
For the girl is second best
To none, son.
Ooooh! Sigh! Give her your attention.
Do… I… really have to mention?
She’s the One?”
The dancers’ colorful personalities, unique stories, struggles, and backgrounds are contrasted with the uniform and artificial chorus line they end up forming for the finale. They are reduced to a fraction of the human centipede that backs the unnamed star of the unnamed show they worked so hard to get cast in. In this way, Michael Bennet brings attention to the often underrareciated musical theater dancers by giving them a chance in the spotlight and exposing the tragedy of trying to make it on Broadway. It is arguably the biggest self-parody Broadway has ever done. In fact, Bennet originally envisioned the finale to be so horrifying to audiences that chorus lines would cease to exist (they did not).
But despite the adversity, the auditionees trudge onward. Because, ultimately, it isn’t for the job security or the money that they chose to pursue their dreams, but for love. In the iconic, phenomenal, What I Did For Love, the Line crescendos:
“Kiss today goodbye
And point me toward tomorrow
We did what we had to do
Won’t forget, can’t regret
What I did for love.”
I’m convinced every theater kid can relate to these lyrics. Theater is hard. It requires commitment, endurance, criticism, physical, mental, and emotion stress, intense competition, self-doubt, and an alarming lack of security as a profession. But every year, thousands of bright-eyed kids pursue theater majors anyway, because we do it for love. And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?
In conclusion… come see CTC’s A Chorus Line, 2026! Maybe it’ll inspire you to follow your dreams, too. Tickets are $15 at the door or online (cnhsnj.booktix.com)
