I wrote this before I wrote the following blog but I lost it and just found it now. This is actually an introduction to the chorus line-up below .

Do with it what you will.

So many days have flown by and so have my thoughts. I am doing and thinking too many disparate things and having trouble picking one to focus on long enough to write a blog. Also I get tired. Also the weather is divine and I am so happy to sit on my balcony with my freshly renovated furniture. Also my wifi resists powering through a brick wall to the balcony on the other side. So I remain uncommunicative though not thoughtless.

Stratford again:

I left you with All my Sons. Now I have added A Chorus Line to my attendance record this year. Traditionalist that I am, Renaissance woman that I am, Shakespeare aficionado that I am, I have long (mildly) resisted and (slightly) resented the introduction of musicals to the Stratford program each year, while acknowledging the necessity. Gilbert and Sullivan had been a given before I became a regular. I think it was John Neville, when he was a.d., who launched a tradition with two musicals with impeccable credentials: Kiss Me, Kate and The Boys from Syracuse. The box office returns justified the descent, if descent it was, to middle-to-lowbrow theatre.

My Mac will sleep soon if I don’t plug it in. Anon.

I may finish this today. Or not.

Obviously I didn't.

At least you know I’m still here.

When I went to London in January on a theatre tour arranged by the Stratford Festival, we saw, among other things, a much acclaimed production of Guys and Dolls, transferred to the West End from Chichester. There was no doubt, it was good, well done, especially, as I remember, the dance number before the big crap game. But it seemed to me to be almost flat and I realised that I have been utterly spoiled by the over-the-top, lavish musicals Stratford has been doing for the last couple of decades (at least). I’ve criticised them sometimes because they were too much; I didn’t like the working carousel in Carousel, for example. But…

I loved A Chorus Line. If ever a musical deserved and earned the time, effort and money spent on it, that one did, does. The show is so well written and so (still) authentic. It draws genuine care and angst out of the audience and the performers, too. We need each other to acknowledge the pain and love that goes into a creative career, at whatever level. The money has been well spent on people: dancers who can act, actors who can sing, a honed company, and a large one, all highly trained and experienced (I read all the resumés), including ten making their Stratford debut.

I don’t like standing ovations. They are too common now and rather knee-jerk. One has to stand in order to see the company because of all the other people standing who are in the way. In this case, I didn’t mind standing.

Yes!