Just got home from seeing a play I hadn't seen mentioned on here, which is surprising since it's catnip for Broadway mavens and theatre insiders.
Arlene Hutton's play ACCORDING TO THE CHORUS is set during the 1980s in the quick-change room of an unnamed, long-running Broadway musical. A former actress and aspiring writer named KJ (Dana Brooke) takes a job as a dresser and becomes enmeshed in the complicated and often adversarial relations between the wardrobe staff (the lead dresser is played by Karen Ziemba!) and the dancers. Sharp, witty dialogue includes lots of in-jokes and well-observed details about backstage life; the specter of AIDS hangs ominously over the show, sensitively handled. A cast of twelve, mostly female, has been expertly orchestrated and tightly paced by director Chris Goutman. It's funny and often poignant.
It's produced by a company called New Light Theater Project in the extremely tiny Theatre C at 59E59. Running through April 15. The rest of the run appears to be completely sold-out, but it's worth checking for last-minute cancellations. Definitely deserves to move to a bigger space. |
