One singular sensation...

I have a thing about musicals. I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps it is their wild improbability, or their manifestation of my unspoken dream to be able to burst into song to convey a wild emotion… or just their colour and spectacle which appeal to my dramatic side. But I can watch them again and again and never get bored – I’ve seen Grease, The Sound of Music, Annie, and Moulin Rouge more times than you would want to believe, and I still love every second of every one of them.

So on this lazy Saturday at home, when I saw A Chorus Line was to be on television, I instantly decided that was just how I wanted to spend my afternoon. And so I did, and I sang along to every song, I still get a kick from ‘One, singular sensation, every little step she takes, da-da-da daaa da da’ and the crowd-pleaser ‘Tits and Ass’. During the rendition of ‘And then we did it again…’ my friend and colleague Stephen rang. He enquired what that strange warbling in the background was, and I blithely told him, only to be met with a quizzical ‘Eh?’. I, of course, assumed he was joking, I mean, how could anyone not know A Chorus Line?? But once, again, it turns out those 3-4 years of extra age make a huge difference in awareness of cultural references.

What a shame… I cannot imagine a youth without singing A Chorus Line songs on buses during school excursions, or wishing I were a ballet or Broadway dancer, or yearning to own the green leotard the pretty blonde girl owned… It was also one of the first movies in my memory to openly discuss homosexuality and coming out to family members, so I would have thought it featured warmly in the memories of my beloved gay friends. My concern now, as with many of the formative films of my youth, is that their relevance and revelatory qualities will be lost when watched by critical seasoned modern-dayers. So just take it from me then, my young friends, it mattered when I was 11 that you could sing ‘Sheeeee’s theeeeeeee One!’ in a chorus, even if you were to never own that green leotard!