April 28, 1990

This day is the 13th anniversary of the final curtain of A Chorus Line on Broadway. The musical ran for an astounding 6,237 performances. It became the longest-running musical on September 29, 1983, when its 3,389th performance broke the previous record held by Grease.

A Chorus Line originally opened on July 25, 1975, and was seen by more than 6.5 million people during its eight-year run. The show won a Pulitzer and nine Tony awards, and was made into an Oscar nominated film in 1985 starring Michael Douglas.

A Chorus Line gave a behind-the-scenes look at dancers auditioning for a Broadway show. The musical was written by two industry insiders (Michael Bennett and James Kirkwood) who had been involved in theater for decades.

Film audiences have recently shown that they still have a thirst for musicals that become movies. The back-to-back successes of Moulin Rouge and Chicago have clearly raised the bar in this very specialized genre. We may not be too far off from Cats: The Motion Picture.