The Reality of a Film about Theater ["Every Little Step"]
A person who acts, sings, and dances in a Broadway musical is the most intensely real person in the world.
More than people who almost make it to Broadway … a person who actually does make it also knows about almost making it. More than people who perform in movies … in live theater, a person must produce the magic, then and there, and then again, day in and day out. More than championship athletes … a Broadway musical performer is expected to excel every time.
More than people in “significant” walks of life and everyday walks of life, no matter how daunting their realities … in Broadway theater, a person must transform the contrivance of singing and dancing a story into something more alive than the realities of everyone watching them.
See the film “Every Little Step.” You will gain a better appreciation of what I'm driving at.
This documentary gives incomparable access to the process of casting a Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line.” It drenches you with the years of preparation, motivation, and vulnerability – and of course the talent – that channel through the people auditioning, the people who get called back and don't, and the people eventually selected.
“A Chorus Line” was, in its day, the longest running Broadway musical ever. This iconic show is about a set of intensely real people who share what it is to become a person who makes it into a Broadway musical.
While it may seem curious, even trippingly redundant, to make this sort of film about “A Chorus Line,” “Every Little Step” adds the kind of grounding that is a special characteristic of the documentary. This documentary ambitiously merges in interviews and footage of the players who created the original show.
The layers work, as does having to keep track amidst the rapid pace of such a strange compression of human realization.