Interview with Rob Ruggiero

·1 hr 10 min·5 clips

Marvin Hamlisch's widow explained that 'What I Did for Love' is really about what we do for what we love and how we should cherish those moments.

Stuart Brown begins close to home. He introduces Rob Ruggiero through TheatreWorks Hartford, the under-200-seat downtown theater Ruggiero calls Hartford's Off-Broadway, then steers the interview toward Goodspeed's A Chorus Line. The question is how a show everyone thinks they know can still land in a new production. Ruggiero does not sound eager to tinker. He says he has not seen an update that really works, and keeps tying the show's force to the people who first built it. Brown is plainly on that side of the argument. He remembers a Broadway revival with strong dancers but not much emotional pull. The movie gets a sharper verdict: Ruggiero points to the thin involvement of the original creatives as part of why it missed. Then the talk gets satisfyingly nuts-and-bolts. The 14 piece orchestra sits outside the main theater space, split between the donor lounge and the area below, so the stage can breathe. At Goodspeed, Ruggiero gets deep and forward playing space, enough for 17 people across. That lets him keep most of the original choreography and staging, though 18 would probably be too much. Brown asks like a fan who loves the score and distrusts lazy modernization. Ruggiero answers like a director counting inches, bodies, music, and feeling. The close returns to the basics: the 50 year anniversary A Chorus Line at Goodspeed, with Brown repeating the invitation and signing off for On Broadway.

As heard by us

A Chorus Line becomes a study in keeping choreographic life intact inside a demanding theater space.

Rob Ruggiero's conversation with Stuart Brown opens on TheatreWorks Hartford, an intimate venue of fewer than 200 seats now entering its 40th anniversary season after growing from an underground operation into a respected Connecticut theater.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You get the backstage geometry of A Chorus Line, from a 14-piece orchestra tucked outside the theater space to 17 dancers fitting across the floor.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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