The award winning dance musical, A Chorus Line, opens Tuesday, Jan 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 Indiantown Road. Tickets start at $52 and are available at the box office at 561-575-2223. The production will run through Feb. 2 and includes the 5th annual Pride Night on Friday, Jan 17 at 6:30 p.m. as well as a talk-back session on Thursday, Jan 23 at 9 p.m.
Written by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, the musical opened on Broadway in 1975, featuring such well-known songs as One and What I Did for Love, by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban. The production received 12 Tony Award nominations, and won nine. It garnered a Pulitzer Prize in 1976.
“There’s a reason why A Chorus Line has been so tremendously successful and continues to inspire generations of theatergoers,” said Andrew Kato, the Theatre’s producing artistic director. “It’s a story about people following their dreams, and features incredible dancing, choreography, music and heart.”
Comments from director/choreographer Josh Walden
“A Chorus Line is the ultimate coming out play,” said Director/Choreographer Josh Walden. “The actors share their personal stories and bare their souls to the audience.”
“It’s an amazing moment when the actors realize that we want to hear their stories in the lines that were created by the original performers,” he added. “There’s a light in their eyes that says they ‘got it. You want me on stage in the character.’”
Walden is openly gay and a self-described pioneer for gay civil equality. “My husband and I got married when it became legal,” he said. “Now we’re going to exercise the right to get divorced.”
“It’s not a bad thing,” he added. “We discovered that we are brothers and close friends but not meant to be married to one another. Still, the experience of being married and being recognized as a legal couple is incredible. It gives you a new understanding about love and the respect that is given by the law.”
Walden’s own coming out story was a mixed situation. His father has a close friend who is gay so he was more accepting than Walden’s mother. In fact his father scolded his mother for her first reaction, which was to recite one of the usual litanies about homosexuality.
“She came around,” Walden said. “But my father has become an advocate for our rights so it’s been a pretty easy issue with friends and family.”
“I love this play a lot,” Walden said. “And as director and choreographer I’m doing what I really love – leading people on a path that makes them successful.”
“Tell your readers that they need to come to the Maltz and be blown away by two hours of watching stunningly beautiful people going with me on the journey that is A Chorus Line.
Fifth Annual Pride Night Features A Chorus Line
“Maltz Jupiter theater is proud to host the Fifth Annual Pride Night on Friday, Jan 17,” said Linnea Brown, Director of Public Relations ”Maltz reaches out to diverse groups throughout the county at different times and offers special seating preceded by hors d’oeuvres and followed by an opportunity to meet the cast after the show.”
This year’s tickets for A Chorus Line are $39 for mezzanine seats, subject to availability. The password for the discount is PRISCILLA. Hors d’oeuvres will be served at 6:30 p.m.
Pride Night is sponsored by Morgan Stanley and supported by South Florida Gay News and C
Compass Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Lake Worth and the Palm Beaches.
“SFGN is thrilled to a part of this year’s Pride Night,” said Jason Parsley, associate publisher of SFGN. “It’s important for local businesses and venues to show their support for the LGBT community and Maltz has been a great of the community. We’re always proud to partner with them.”
Visit JupiterTheatre.org for additional information or to purchase tickets online; Phone: 561-575-2223.
