Movie review and director interview: Every Little Step

by Alex Bentley

Broadway musicals have always been a hit-or-miss proposition in their transitions to the big screen. For every West Side Story or Chicago, there's a Phantom of the Opera (2004) or Rent. The problem for a lot of them is that the emotion and vitality the shows possess on stage is extremely difficult to replicate on the big screen. And there's also the fact that, for some reason, characters bursting into song makes a lot more sense in theater than in movies.

That's why Every Little Step, a documentary about the history and 2006 revival of A Chorus Line, has the best of both worlds. Being a documentary, it has no need to recreate scenes from the musical; and, as co-directors James Stern and Adam Del Deo chose to do, it can create the drama and suspense of any great fiction film just through the sheer force of human nature (okay, and the right editing choices, too).

The fantastic conceit of the film is that if follows the auditions of actors who are trying out for a musical that's all about auditioning for a musical (can you say “meta?”). Thus, the audience is treated, American Idol-style, to auditions that are exuberant and excruciating, sublime and subpar, superb and superfluous. From a cattle call of 3,000 hopefuls, the producers have to whittle them down to just 19 standouts (plus understudies).

As befitting a musical of the magnitude of A Chorus Line, it's the stories of the actors that make the film shine. The show was originally created using the life stories of its actors as inspiration, and it's not surprising to find that many of the people trying out can relate to the characters they're wanting to play. Among the most memorable are Jessica Lee Goldyn, vying for the part of Val, and Yuku Takara, who has the double obstacle of overcoming her native Japanese accent while trying to do so in front of Baayork Lee, the actress who originally played Connie, the part Takara is up for. But it's Jason Tam, up for the part of Paul, who brings the house down. While many of the auditions hold a good amount of emotion, Tam infuses his tryout with such depth and feeling that there's not a dry eye to be found, either on screen or in the audience.

Even though all of the songs of A Chorus Line are well-established, seeing them sung repeatedly throughout the audition process lends the film a sense of the creative process, giving the audience the feeling that they are eavesdropping on great art being made. Also helpful is the use of tape recordings of the original brainstorming session for what would become A Chorus Line. The late Michael Bennett, who wrote and directed the original production, taped the meeting to try and get ideas for the characters he wanted. Stern and Del Deo do a wonderful job of showing just how much material was able to be gleaned from the tapes, juxtaposing the audio with the script in snippets throughout the film.

By the end of the film, the successes and failures of the various actors are the main focus, with more than a few surprises coming out of the mix. By the time the entire cast sings the iconic “One,” Every Little Step has long been a singular sensation.

I sat in on a round table interview with Adam Del Deo, co-director of the film, at the Angelika Dallas. Listen to the podcast to the right for the following highlights:

* How he and his co-director were recruited to do the documentary

* How they decided what characters (and accompanying actors) they decided to focus on

* How the dedication of the actors to their craft surprised him

* How it was to be the first to document a Broadway audition process

* Who he thinks the audience for the film will be