John Dale Smith's electrifying band and Karyn Perry's creative choreography added to Janine's vision and direction that bonded the elements and delivered the soul of the songs to the audience. This show was a sort of "A Chorus Line"-Plus (a favorite of mine since I saw it, standing room only, on Broadway.) The revue meshed a wonderfully related group of songs to celebrate the pains and joys of "what I did for love" in a backstage setting with the ensemble often creating subtle moving backdrops for songs.
There were too many outstanding numbers to count, but the most memorable number was developed within the final week, when Suzanna LaForge hurt her knee and could no longer dance. In her rendition of "Roxie" she was transported all over the stage on a rolling trunk, a carried board, a furniture dolly, and in the arms of her "boys." Her star-quality presence and voice made it seem as if they'd been rehearsing it that way for weeks.
We also loved Colleen Bethea's stellar "dash of maturity" within this largely youthful cast (Welcome to the Theatre; I'm Still Here) Racheal Raymer, Kayla Green and Rachel Dalton (At the Ballet) Prince Jerrell-Spann (I Could Be That Guy)... The rest of the ensemble were each stars in their own rights: Michael Chan, Jared Cohn, Levi Grundner, Samantha Le, Megan Malusik, Robert Ramon, Quinn Ruilson, Michael Samhat, Megan Smania, Isaac Sprague, and Kelly Stuible.