Shows about young, aspiring performers hoping to become a “singular sensation” are certainly as popular now as ever. Whether in reality or fiction form, we love to see those kids give it all up for the thrill of recognition by the crowd (not to mention the security of a job).

Most of these currently successful shows owe a debt, whether artistically, spiritually or both, to “A Chorus Line,” one of the most popular musicals on the subject of theatrical ambition to ever come along.

After a long initial run and subsequent return to Broadway, the show has been making the regional and local rounds for many years. One could ask whether it might be ready for a rest.

Such thoughts usually disappear, however, when the curtain opens and we get to see the show. At least that’s true when it’s done as well as it is in its latest reincarnation at the Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick.

It may not provide the same “wow” as it did when seeing it way back when. But it still makes for a fun and fascinating time at the theater.

MSMT has not presented the show since 1997, and for this very reverent revival they’ve enlisted Donna Drake to “restage” the direction of the late Michael Bennett, who brought the original show, in which Drake performed, to Broadway in 1975.

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The show takes place, as most folks know by now, at tryouts for the chorus of an upcoming Broadway production. A stage-ful of aspiring dancers are put through their paces by the godlike director Zach, played here by Curt Dale Clark, and his assistant Larry (Buddy Reeder).

After an initial cut, each remaining contender is asked probing questions by the director which lead into some funny and heart-rending stories of hope and struggle.

Issues of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, etc., topics rarely addressed so openly on a Broadway stage at the time, were brought tellingly into the spotlight in this innovative show.

As reviewed at Friday’s matinee, the performers were all very good. Rebecca Riker, playing Cassie, and Nicky Venditti, playing Paul, had some of the juiciest moments as their characters recounted the trials they had undergone to get where they are.

Both performers were first-rate, with Riker’s song and dance number, “The Music and the Mirror,” particularly strong, if perhaps feeling just a bit long.

Venditti’s emotional monologue, likewise, kind of stopped the proceedings.

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It is hard, though, to find fault with presenting what might be just a touch too much of a good thing.

Good things were plentiful throughout, from the comic moments of Sean Bell, Suzanna Dupree and Kelly D. Felthous to the singing of Selina Verastigui, Allie Pizzo and Morgan Rose.

There is just a lot of talent on stage and it was the quick-hitting pieces that seemed to work the best in the two-hour-plus (without intermission) show.

The company danced impressively in styles ranging from ballet to tap, and the collective numbers, leading all the way up to the famous “One,” really dazzled.

Though it was, of course, constructed as an entertainment, this show reinvigorated Broadway by providing an unusually intimate glimpse behind the curtain. That alone makes “A Chorus Line” a classic worth revisiting.

Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.


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