This season of high school musicals spotlights well-known classics, giving students a chance to audition for a chorus line, sing in the rain, and remember that in musicals, anything goes!
Santa Barbara High School presents A Chorus Line (directed by Gioia Marchese), a musical about the audition process. A director (played by David Benavidez) auditions a group of dancers vying for a place in the chorus line. In this unlikely casting process, each dancer gets to tell their story — characters like Val (played by Malia Hubbard), whose song “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three” bemoans the fact that it takes more than talent to make it in showbiz. “Val is the epitome of a brave, beautiful, confident woman,” says Hubbard. “She’s working hard to get a job. Unfortunately, looks are a very large factor in musical theater, so that’s a real-life obstacle that blocks many talented people from progressing.”
A Chorus Line premiered half a century ago, but the anxieties of auditioning haven’t changed. “I am playing a director responsible for casting dancers,” says Benavidez. “A few months ago, I was one of those dancers walking into the audition room hoping to impress the directors! … High school is full of young adults who come from so many different backgrounds (like those in the chorus line) and having a play that is so inclusive and raw … can spark so many needed emotions that are hard to find in everyday life.”