"Every Little Step": A backstage look at "A Chorus Line"

"I really need this job," sings the motley crew of auditioning dancers in the Broadway musical "A Chorus Line." "Please God, I need this job." That's the underlying sentiment of "Every Little Step," a riveting documentary from James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, who undertook the task of showing us the audition process for the 2006 Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line." Cameras show us endless lines of dancers snaking along a midtown Manhattan sidewalk; inside, they strip down to leotards and stretch nervously, knowing that it all comes down to a pirouette and a smile.

"A Chorus Line" is, of course, about the audition process: It takes place during a callback, as a group of dancers stand on a line and try to convince an unseen (but heard) director that they're exactly what he wants. As the musical progresses, we come to know these dancers and their stories. The same thing happens in "Every Little Step," which mirrors the "Chorus Line" structure as it winnows those multitudes of auditioners down to a few dozen finalists.

We meet Charlotte d'Amboise, a knockout dancer who's worked steadily on Broadway for years but never quite found stardom (and whose experience echoes that of the role of Cassie, which she's vying for); Jessica Lee Goldyn, a fresh-faced Jersey girl eager to make her Broadway debut; Chryssie Whitehead, a perpetually giggling charmer who owns the role of dithery Kristine from the second she enters the studio; Jason Tam, whose audition reading of Paul's central monologue (in which the character describes his parents' discovery that he is gay) brought a tableful of listeners to tears — including director Bob Avian, who worked on the original "Chorus Line" and commented "I haven't cried at that in 20 years."

Stern and Del Deo present a bit of "Chorus Line" history along the way, including a few excerpts from those famous reel-to-reel tapes on which the original show was based. (Creator Michael Bennett gathered a group of dancers for an all-night talk session; fueled, as original cast member Donna McKechnie tells us, by jugs of cheap red wine.) But "Every Little Step" keeps its focus on the would-be members of the new cast and their journey, as they sing and stomp and sweat.

In one telling moment as dramatic as anything on a Broadway stage, one dancer finishes her final callback audition and stays to watch her competition. Her eyes fall as she realizes that someone else — who's dancing like a demon — will likely get the part, and she wordlessly registers disappointment coupled with respect. She knows the right one got the job, and that she'll dance another day; still a work in progress, her story will go on.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com