TODAY'S NUGGET: A Chorus Line (1985) - Present to Flashback, Held Together By Sound

[Quick Summary: Ex-girlfriend and dancer Cassie tries to meet with Zach, the director-choreographer, while he auditions a group of dancers.]

NOTE: I always hesitate to read first drafts for this blog, but it is the only draft available anywhere, so here goes.

Purely by chance, I've read back to back the two most famous scripts about a dancer's life on stage (A Chorus Line and All That Jazz).

THREE THOUGHTS:

1) They have a wide appeal because they are not just about dancing.  Each revolves around personal, tumultuous relationship(s) that keeps us riveted.

2) All That Jazz is about one man's story.  A Chorus Line manages to also feature stories from the ensemble.

3) I liked how this flashback seamlessly moved from theater--> Zach's bedroom --> theater.  It's all visuals, held together by the tapping sound.

ex. MED. SHOT - ZACH'S LIGHT

He is turning it on and off, rhythmically, nervously, thinking. Then he turns off the lamp and leaves it off. In the dim, available light, we see his hand nervously tapping a pen on the desk.

Shooting over Zach's shoulder, his back remains constant, but now we are in his bedroom. It is dark. On the early dawn light coming through the window. Cassie is asleep in the bed. Zach, an insomniac, is watching her. After a beat, Cassie rolls over and falls off the bed to the floor. Waking up, startled, she looks around, then seeing Zach, starts to laugh.

(During above the only SOUND we hear is the pen tapping on the desk.)

BACK TO ZACH IN THE THEATER

He is still tapping the pen. Thinking.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I never really thought before about sound holding together the visuals until I read this scene.

A Chorus Line (1985)(1st draft, 11/17/82)
by Arnold Schulman
Adapted from the 1975 stage musical