Every Little Step is a documentary about the audition process for the broadway revival of A Chorus Line. Before I go into details about the movie, it's important to understand my fascination with A Chorus Line.
When I was in middle school my family lived in Belgium. There wasn't anything on TV and it wasn't easy to find movies in English. So... we had about a dozen vhs tapes with movies and other shows that friends sent us or we got from a creepy guy called "Video Bob". Top Gun, Porkies, Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Helen Hunt and SJP), AND A Chorus Line were in the lineup. So needless to say because we only had a few movies we watched them OVER and OVER and OVER again.
So when I went to see Every Little Step it brought back GREAT memories of watching Michael Douglas as Zach auditioning dancers for his Chorus Line. I remembered all the songs and it was all I could do to not sing along (the 5 other people in the theater do not know how lucky they were). I have since ordered the DVD of the movie from Amazon (it will be here Monday!) and can't wait to belt out the tunes for my family.
But more than just a collection of nostalgic songs, Every Little Step is fantastic for two reasons. First, it does a fabulous job of following the emotional journey these dancers take as they go through the broadway audition process. From the seasoned broadway regulars, to Jessica, the newby, it didn't take long until I was completely sucked into their stories.
Second, it told the surprising and inspiring story of how Michael Bennett came up with the idea for the original broadway play. Basically he gathered a group of his dancer friends, and taped a 12-hour wine-fueled conversation about their lives and what inspired them to dance. These tapes were transcribed and became the basis for the characters in the musical. He went on to direct the original tony-winning production.
Even if you didn't watch A Chorus Line a hundred times in the 80's, Every Little Step is totally worth watching today.
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