Broadway’s Baayork Lee, who helped originate ‘A Chorus Line,’ teaches master class at Gateway Playhouse
SOMERS POINT — Who better to teach the high school actors/dancers in the Gateway to the Arts program about “A Chorus Line” than one of the originators of the storied Broadway musical, Baayork Lee?
The famed dancer/actor/choreographer, who a few weeks earlier was profiled on the CBS show “Sunday Morning,” came to Somers Point two weeks ago to teach an eight-hour master class for the students who have been rehearsing for the teen version of “A Chorus Line.” The show will be on stage Aug. 9-10 at The Gateway Playhouse on Bay Avenue in Somers Point.
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The experience left the students — and the show’s experienced choreographer — in awe.
“For her to be standing next to me and working with me, I can’t even put it into words how special it felt,” said Rita Caporilli of Absecon, who is going into her junior year at Holy Spirit High School. “I can’t even describe it knowing … what a life she’s lived.
“It was really something unforgettable. She came in and she spoke with each one of us about our specific characters and told us what they were like in real life,” she said. “And she worked with us individually. It was clear how much love and care she had for the show, so being able to learn all about it from her was truly something special.”
Lee, who is 77 years old, made her Broadway debut as a princess in the original production of “The King and I” in 1951. She was part of the workshops from which “A Chorus Line” was developed and the character of Connie Wong was largely based on her life.
She was in the first Off Broadway and Broadway productions and the first national tour of the musical, which when it closed was the longest-running show in Broadway history until surpassed by “Cats” in 1997. She appeared in multiple Broadway shows in her career.
“A Chorus Line” was directed by Micheal Bennett, whom Lee got to know when they attended New York’s High School for the Performing Arts. Lee became one of Bennett’s closest collaborators and she has directed or choreographed many productions of the musical, including the revival in 2006.
Caporilli, in her third year in the Gateway to the Arts program, said “A Chorus Line” is her favorite show so far.
“The people and the environment and the directors are all so special and they put such love and care into what we do,” she said. “They’re very supportive of us branching out with new ideas and just making the characters our own.”
While she may not be angling toward a career in dance or theater, she said community theater will “definitely be a part of my life forever.”
Yullian Pereira of Somers Point, a rising senior at Mainland Regional High School who has taken part in numerous productions at the high school, does want to pursue theater. He was left almost speechless thinking about the experience with Lee.
“I have no words for this experience. We’ve had other master classes here that have been so incredible and informative and so life-changing when you’re in a world like this,” he said. “Baayork brought experience, knowledge, wisdom to all of us. She made sure each and every one of us had that. And she had that background to the character because she wants everyone to be successful in the production.”
“A Chorus Line” is based on young dancers trying out for a spot in a Broadway production.
“These are real people’s stories and she knew these people, so she really brought so much to us and it’s a gift,” Pereira said. “It really is. She called me over to talk about my character and it was very emotional because with my character, he has such a deep story and such a vulnerable story. … It got to the point where I was tearing up in front of her. “
Lee’s presence had an added layer for the aspiring actor.
“She is an encapsulation of people like myself, minorities, making it on Broadway. And she paved the way for people like myself to be on that stage and on 42nd Street,” he said.
This is Pereira’s fourth year with the Gateway to the Arts program. Like Caporilli, he looks forward to it every year.
“You have all your friends here, everyone you’re close to and you’re all doing a huge production. You’re all putting it together with the same amount of passion,” he said. “It’s such a good experience to learn from. It’s very supportive here. They let us explore our characters and they want to make sure the kids are seen on that stage.”
For Karen Cleighton, the choreographer of the Gateway Playhouse production, being with Lee for the master class was “absolutely amazing because she’s an icon.
“The biggest takeaway for me is how warm, welcoming, friendly and humble she was,” Cleighton said. “She made you think you were her best friend the minute you talked to her. The kids she talked to, she made them feel seen and heard. She was really good as a people person.”
Cleighton is no stranger to choreography. She has taught at the University of the Arts and Temple University and has choreographed at the grade school level, the high school level, the college level, the professional level and community theater. “I’ve done a little bit of everything,” she said.
Cleighton was impressed that Lee, who was in the original production nearly 50 years ago, hasn’t lost her energy.
“She did all the dancing herself. She did it all. She did not sit and watch,” Cleighton said of the diminutive star. (Lee is 4’10” tall.)
“I learned the original choreography (of ‘A Chorus Line’) before, but for me, to learn it from the O.G. — the original — all the little specificities, the elbow’s here, the arm’s here, you hold it like this, all that stuff, that’s like a gift I will have for the rest of my life,” she said. “Now I know where everything is. And I got it from the original person, so it’s never going to change from that because that’s the way it should be done.”
– STORY by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
– PHOTOS by Katelin Keane/Special to the Sentinel