A Chorus Line [Remaster] - Original Cast (CD 1998)

If you've ever tried out or auditioned for anything, you've felt that anticipation/dread of potential acceptance or rejection. If you've ever seen a Broadway style musical you've seen a number of individuals who went through the same emotional wringer, only with much higher stakes. The performer's livelihoods and careers, depend on their ability to "make the cut" and land roles - after lengthy and often grueling tryouts.
"A Chorus Line" is comprised of the moving stories of a group such performers: People whose talents we have all witnessed and appreciated, but whose real lives and feelings and personalities remain anonymous. "A Chorus Line" allows us to spend an evening with these extraordinary folk, and discover the things that made them what and who they are. For the first time, we are permitted to see inside their personal lives and histories, and experience their joy, their pain, their victories and defeats. These stories and characters are real. The original cast members were actually baring their own souls, for all of us to see, and the current cast allows a new generation to feel these same character's emotions, and experience a part of their very lives - in real time.
It is for this reason that, if you haven't already seen it, "A Chorus Line" should be the next musical you see. If you've never seen a musical, it should be the first one you see. Seeing "A Chorus Line" will forever change the way you view a live performance. You will come to realize that the performers, all of them, are real, and they have real lives, and they often shed blood, sweat, and many tears to earn the opportunity to demonstrate their talent for you. There is no better way to see inside the the creation of theater.
I recently experienced the revival of "A Chorus Line" on Broadway, and I was literally moved to tears. Alas, there is no way to recreate this experience. The movie of the same name, although enjoyed by some, is an incomplete and artificial shell of the Broadway show. The CD, on the other hand, once you've seen the show, allows you to recreate the show in your mind to some extent, and is moving in it's own right. You can't see the performers, of course, and, since the show itself is about dancers, an audio performance is obviously limited. But, even though many of the monologues are missing, the songs still resound with the music and the stories that give "A Chorus Line" life. It is still impossible for me to listen to the CD without experiencing some of the emotion I felt upon seeing the show for the first time.
I highly recommend that you see "A Chorus Line" wherever and whenever you can. Performances like this must be experienced, and encouraged. There is no other show like this. It will forever change the way you look at live performance. The CD, in the absence of a live performance, is a worthy remembrance, and should be owned by all who've seen the show.