San Francisco Playhouse Presents A CHORUS LINE

San Francisco Playhouse concludes its 20th Anniversary Season with the hit Broadway musical A Chorus Line. In this groundbreaking work, twenty-four hopeful dancers undertake a grueling audition for eight coveted spots in the back-up chorus of an unnamed Broadway show. Exploring the inner lives and bittersweet ambitions of performers, A Chorus Line captures the spirit, tension, and hope of a high stakes audition. Directed by Bill English with music direction by Dave Dobrusky and choreography by Nicole Helfer, A Chorus Line will perform June 22 - September 9, 2023 (opening night: June 28) at San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street. For tickets ($15-$100) and more information, the public may visit sfplayhouse.org or call the box office at 415-677-9596.

A Chorus Line was created from the real-life stories of working Broadway dancers, including eight who appeared in the original cast. Their deeply personal tales, shared in workshop sessions hosted by dancers Michon Peacock and Tony Stevens, caught the attention of director/choreographer Michael Bennett who had also been considering a show centered on the singular life of chorus dancers. A Chorus Line's 1975 Broadway debut changed the face of musical theatre, with The New York Times proclaiming, "It is an occasion of joy, an affirmation of Broadway and a smoke‐signal to the world that the musical can touch unexpected depths in the human heart." The show has also been credited with literally saving Broadway, which was struggling with attendance at an all-time low of 6.6 million before the show premiered. A Chorus Line helped bring in 8.8 million playgoers the following year, became the centerpiece of a New York City tourist promotion, led to the revitalization of Times Square, and went on to run for an unprecedented 15 years. In 1983 it became the longest running musical in Broadway history, a title it held for another 14 years until it was finally surpassed by Cats. The show won nine Tony Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, four Drama Desk awards, and three Obie Awards. Of this enduring classic, Time Out said, "The show remains an enormously powerful and affecting piece of work: one of Broadway's all-time greats, with more kick than most other shows combined." San Francisco Playhouse's new production is several years in the making-it was originally scheduled to be presented in its 2020-21 season before being cancelled due to theatre closures during the pandemic.

For this production, San Francisco Playhouse has assembled a stellar cast of talented actor/singers, starting with frequent San Francisco Playhouse choreographer Nicole Helfer (she/her), who takes on her first onstage role at the Playhouse as the proud and defiant Cassie, a once-featured performer who is reduced to seeking a part in the chorus. As an actress, she won a Shellie Award for her performance in Les Miserables at Contra Costa Musical Theatre and has performed with 42nd Street Moon and Center Repertory Company. Recently winning San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC) Award for her choreography of Indecent, Helfer has choreographed for San Francisco Playhouse since 2019 in productions including Cabaret (SFBATCC and Theatre Bay Area - TBA - Award finalist), Groundhog Day the Musical (SFBATCC nominee), Songs for a New World, Starting Here Starting Now (SFBATCC nominee), Twelfth Night (SFBATCC award), Follies, As You Like It, and Clue. Additional choreography credits include The Mountain Play and Ross Valley Players' She Loves Me (SFBATCC award); 42nd Street Moon's Dames at Sea (TBA finalist and SFBATCC nominee) and No, No, Nanette (TBA finalist and SFBATCC nominee); Broadway By the Bay's The Music Man (TBA finalist), West Side Story (TBA Award), and In the Heights (TBA Award); and Ray of Light Theatre's Lizzie (SFBATCC nominee), among many others.

Seen in the Playhouse's productions of Company; Into the Woods; Starting Here, Starting Now; and She Loves Me, Keith Pinto (he/him) returns to the Playhouse as Zach, the director of the unnamed musical holding auditions. An actor, director, and choreographer, Pinto has performed on leading Bay Area stages, including American Conservatory Theater, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Center Repertory Company, Shotgun Players, 42nd Street Moon, Cinnabar Theater, Campo Santo, San Jose Stage Company, and Hillbarn Theatre. Pinto is a co-founder of the San Francisco-based hip hop band Felonious, which has recorded numerous albums and has performed shows with Black Eyed Peas, De La Soul, LL Cool J, The Roots, Pato Banton, and Erykah Badu. Ann Warque (she/her) returns to the Playhouse as Lori, Zach's assistant, after performing in Follies. Warque has also performed with Berkeley Playhouse, Town Hall Theatre, FaultLine Theater, and Tri-Valley Repertory Theatre.

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