Editor's Note: Theater critic Ed Huyck and dance critic Camille Fevre offer two perspectives in these minireviews of "A Chorus Line," now playing at the Orpheum.

Ed Huyck: 'Chorus Line' still brings backstage to life

There’s more than a whiff of desperation running through “A Chorus Line,” the classic backstage musical playing this week at the Orpheum Theatre. After all, for the young -- and not so young -- dancers on stage, this audition for a group of background players in a Broadway musical could be their break, or at least a steady paycheck for a few months.

"A Chorus Line" takes the audience to a long and hard audition for an unnamed new Broadway musical. These performers aren’t fighting for a lead, or even supporting roles, however. They are just the chorus of dancers that backup the rest of the action. Over the course of two hours, we get to know these anonymous players and learn what brought them to dancing and the stage.

The latest revival of the show -- crafted by Bob Avian, one of the original team for the show in the 1970s -- does quite a bit right. The piece remains true to its simple staging and stays true to the original era. That’s important, as the stories and situations that may bring performers will have changed.

The love of performing, however, and the desperation that can come with trying to make it big have not. That means many of the show’s signature pieces still ring true. Sure, there are parts of the plot that haven’t aged as well -- the former romance between the director and older dancer Cassie clunks along -- but other moments are still fresh and driving.

The show’s best moment comes in "One," though not the better-known glitzy curtain-call version but an earlier part, where the dancers put the moves and lyrics together for the first time. Here, they know this is their final moment to convince the director of their talents, and that desperation carries over into their singing, as they run the moves over and over again in their heads.

"A Chorus Line" brings these bit players to life. You’ll never look at the dancers in the background -- or the bit players in the back of the pack -- the same way again.

Camille LeFevre: 'Reality show' precursor shows passion for dance

I’ve never been one for reality shows. "Dancing with the Stars" bores me; and I find "So You Think You Can Dance" abhorrent. There’s no denying the verve, dedication and gymnastic chops displayed by the dancers on these shows. But they’re all style, no substance. Which is probably why I found "A Chorus Line" a bit of a bore, as well.

Back in 1975, when Michael Bennett’s show first appeared on Broadway, it understandably wowed audiences. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama and nine Tony Awards, including one for best musical, the song-and-dance extravaganza puts the backstage lives of 19 dancers front and center — including tributes and tribulations — as they audition for a place in, you guessed it, a chorus line.

The production was, arguably, one of the first "reality" shows to enter mass consciousness and culture, and, like the reality shows now pervasive on television, it places a premium on a two-pronged approach to entertainment: 1) a wow-factor generated by gymnastic physical virtuosity via a jazz-dance idiom; 2) a pathos generated by placing human strife, trauma and emotions on public display.

The 30th-anniversary revival of “A Chorus Line,” tramping the boards through Sunday at the Orpheum Theater, certainly keeps the audience entertained on both fronts. And for those who want more, a documentary called "Every Little Step" delves into the show’s casting, while further exploring the anxieties and fantasies of the dancers auditioning for a Broadway show. At the very least, "A Chorus Line" shows how a spectrum of personalities all profess the same passion for dance; a valuable insight for the general theater-goer, coupled with a new understanding of where the reality-dance-show phenomenon began.

"A Chorus Line" runs through Sunday at the Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. Tickets are $26 to $76. For information and tickets, call 1-800-982-2787 or visit online.