Laguna Playhouse to Present A CHORUS LINE

Laguna Playhouse will present one of the greatest and most celebrated musicals of all time, A CHORUS LINE, conceived and originally directed & choreographed by Michael Bennett, book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, musical direction by Ricky Pope and directed and choreographed by Luis Villabon. Comments Executive Producing Director Ellen Richard, "We are overjoyed to bring our subscribers and audiences this legendary musical during our historic anniversary year. We will all be reminded once again of the sacrifice artists make to pursue their craft and that message feels more poignant now than ever before." A CHORUS LINE begins previews on Thursday, May 26; will open on Sunday, May 29 at 5:30pm and perform through Sunday, June 12, 2022 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Drive in Laguna Beach.

A CHORUS LINE is a celebration of those unsung heroes of the American Musical Theatre: the chorus dancers - those valiant, over dedicated, underpaid, highly trained performers who back up the star or stars and often make them look even more talented than they are. It's also about competition, and competition might easily be the common denominator that grabs the audience and holds it by the collective heartstring until the final, ultimate choices are made. The show features one powerhouse number after another, "What I Did for Love," "One," "I Can Do That," "At the Ballet," "The Music and the Mirror," and "I Hope I Get It."

ABOUT THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

Luis Villabon (Director/Choreographer) was mentored by Tony Award winner and A Chorus Line original Broadway cast member, Baayork Lee, who gave him his first job as an actor and has since enlisted him as Associate Director/Choreographer for many productions of A Chorus Line domestically and internationally. Luis' A Chorus Line re-staging credits include: Self Family Arts Center, SC; Austin Music Theatre, TX; Northern Stage, VT; Ogunquit Playhouse, ME; the 2007 Italian National Tour; the 2009 South Korean National Production in Seoul; the 2011 Japanese Production in Tokyo; Rider University, NJ (2013), the 2016 National Production of Chile in Santiago and he served as Associate Director for Antonio Banderas' 2019-2022 Spanish language production of ACL in Spain. Other staging credits include: Night Tide (NYMF 2017) Evita; Annie; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Into The Woods; Little Shop of Horrors; Seussical, The Musical; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Beauty and the Beast; Once On This Island; Oklahoma!; Once Upon A Mattress. Assistant Director/Choreographer to Ms. Lee: A New Brain (NYC); Jesus Christ Superstar (European Tour). Assistant Choreographer to Paula Abdul: Reefer Madness (NYC); Master of Disguise, starring Dana Carvey (Sony Pictures). As an actor, Luis has appeared in A Chorus Line as Butch once; Paul twelve times; Mike once; and Zach twice, totaling over 1,750 performances.

Ricky Pope (Musical Director) For Laguna Playhouse he previously served as musical director for I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!, Mamma Mia! and also played Reverend Moore in Footloose. He musical directed Hairspray and Rock Of Ages, Jr. at Surflight Theatre. He was seen on the national tours of Annie, All Shook Up, Titanic and The Music Man (with John Tartaglia) at the Wick Theatre in Florida. Other favorite shows include Newsies, Smokey Joe's Cafe, South Pacific, Sweeney Todd, and A Man Of No Importance. He is most proud of appearing in four editions of Broadway Backwards for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The Cast of A CHORUS LINE will feature: Jonathan Van Dyke as "Zach," James Vinson as "Larry," Katie Van Horn as "Cassie," Natalie Kastner as "Sheila," Haley Ayers as "Val," Daniella Castoria as "Diana," Ava Cusitor as "Judy," Presley Nicholson as "Kristine," Kristen Daniels as "Maggie," Ellery Smith as "Bebe," Erika Harper as "Connie," AJ Love as "Mike," William Nelson as "Richie," Johann Santos as "Paul," Dorian Quinn as "Don," Benji Godley-Fisher as "Mark," Patrick Murray as "Gregory," Ryan Mulvaney as "Bobby," and Bryce Bayer as "Al." The Ensemble will feature: Samantha Borthwick, Lucy Swinson, Kyle Urbaniak and Izzy Valdez Ayres-Kaplan.

The Design Team for A CHORUS LINE is as follows: Scenic Design is by Chris Strangfeld; Lighting Design by Clifford Spulock; Sound Design by Ian Scot. The Production Supervisor is Gail Anderson. The Production Stage Manager is Michaelina Miller.

ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING

A CHORUS LINE will preview on Thursday, May 26 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm; Friday, May 27 at 7:30pm & Saturday, May 28 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm; will open on Sunday, May 29at 5:30pm and perform through Sunday, June 12 at 1:00pm at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Drive in Laguna Beach.

Performances will be Wednesdays through Fridays at 7:30pm; Saturdays at 2pm & 7:30pm; Sundays at 1:00pm. There will be added performances on Thursday, May 26 at 2:00pm; Tuesday, May 31 at 7:30pm and Thursday, June 9 at 2:00pm. There will be no performance on Sunday, May 29 at 1pm; Friday, June 10 at 7:30pm; Saturday, June 11 at 2:00pm and Sunday, June 12 at 5:30pm.

Tickets range from $55 - $95 and can be purchased online at www.lagunaplayhouse.com or by calling (949) 497-ARTS (2787). Group discounts are available by calling 949-497-2787 ext. 229. Prices subject to change.

The box office is open Mondays - Saturdays: 12p.m. to 4p.m.; Sundays open 2 hours prior to show time until 15 minutes after curtain. Open until showtime on all performance days.

COVID PROTOCOLS for the LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE will offer both "vaccination-only" and "open-to-all" performances this season. The first two weeks of each run will be for fully vaccinated patrons only, followed by select open performances for all audiences.

Any additional protocol will be subject to changes in government regulations. Proof of vaccination will be required for all patrons prior to entering the theatre during the first two weeks of performances for all main stage shows. Please visit

https://lagunaplayhouse.com/health-and-safety-policy/ for additional details.

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