Adam Cooper admits that it’s nice to be able to watch others performing amazing dance routines in his latest role, Zach the director and choreographer in A Chorus Line, which comes to The Lowry next week.
“This is a very different show for me,” said Adam, who has been one of our leading performers in contemporary dance, ballet and musical theatre for almost 30 years.
Adam Cooper as Zach in A Chorus Line (Picture: Marc Brenner)
A Chorus Line sees him touring for the first time since starring as Don Lockwood in the musical Singin’ in the Rain in 2022.
“That was one of the most full-on dance roles I’ve ever done,” he said. “Now I play the director choreographer and basically just talk which is great. I’ve done so many different things over my career, I don’t really want to be dancing that much any more.
“My body is too old,” he laughed. “But I have been doing a lot more straight acting parts and I absolutely love it. It’s a different challenge but one which I relish very much.
“What’s great about this show is that it is still a huge dance show I’m part of but I get to watch it instead of having to do the routines.”
A Chorus Line is the award-winning Broadway musical which tells the stories of the dancers hoping to be given a chance. Zach, the mercurial director, puts the 17 hopefuls vying for eight places in the chorus of a new show through their paces, getting each of them to tell their life stories as part of the audition process.
Adam, who was a former principal dancer with the Royal Ballet before gaining wider recognition as the Swan in Matthew Bourne’s acclaimed contemporary version of Swan Lake, has performed in the West End and is much in demand as a choreographer and director.
“I guess this show is typecasting really,” he joked. “Certainly over the last few years the majority of my work has been as a choreographer and I’ve been doing more direction as well although I try to split my career and still perform.”
So has playing Zach given him itchy feet?
“I think if I was younger I would definitely have them,” he said. “What I love about the show is that it is a brand new version with all new, choreography by Ellen Kane who has done the most incredible job.
Adam Cooper as Zach in A Chorus Line (Picture: Marc Brenner)
“It is the sort of choreography I’d love to be out there doing, had I been 20 year younger. These days I’m very happy to sitting there watching them.”
A Chorus Line was acclaimed for its realistic portrayal of the sometimes brutal nature of showbusiness with the dancers’ stories being based on interviews with would-be Broadway performers.
With his director’s hat on, Adam is happy to say he’s nothing like the driven and often harsh Zach.
“He’s a lot more, how shall I put this? impolite than me,” he said. “I’m not very good at confrontation but Zach certainly is. It’s nice to able to play a different character but in a genre I know well.
“With my Zach I try to give him a bit of humanity; that’s who I am anyway. What normally happens when you have a dance audition, everybody dances then you sing then they read a few lines and then you cast them or not.
“What he’s decided to do is get them together in this weird way and get them to tell stories about themselves.
“It’s a random way of holding an audition but I just thought that if a director is that unorthodox then there has got to be more to him than this hard, confrontational person. That’s what I’ve tried to bring out and then he becomes a much more complex character which interests me.”
The new adaption sees Zach on stage much more than in previous incarnations of the show.
“It’s a bit of an old cliché but in the original version Zach used to spend 95 per cent of the performance in the auditorium virtually in the dark,” said Adam. “I’m very much more present all the way through so I’m on stage for a lot of it and if I’m not on stage I’m at the side sitting at a desk. I do have moments when I am in the auditorium but it feels like Zach is a much more present being in this production.
A Chorus Line (Picture: Marc Brenner)
“I think it makes it more realistic. You want to know what Zach thinks of these stories - if he’s affected by them or just sitting there. The audience becomes more involved with the drama of it.”
As a veteran of many auditions, both as performer and director Adam is in an ideal position to comment on the whole process.
“There’s no doubt they can be brutal,” he said. “In order to make it in the industry you have to be thick skinned and you have to learn it’s not personal.
“As a choreographer or director you are holding this person’s future in your hands for that job. For me that becomes a massive weight – I really hate auditioning, even more so as director than as a dancer because you feel that weight of responsibility and you want to be fair to everybody. Ultimately you have only got so many parts to fill and have to go with whoever you think is going to do the best job.
“If I’m auditioning somebody I want to get the best out of them and the way I do that is to make them feel comfortable; I try and take the stress away but everybody has got stories of horrible auditions as there are occasionally people out there who think they are the most important thing in the world and it doesn’t matter how they treat people.”
So would Adam ever employ Zach’s methods in casting a show?
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I can’t think of anything more hideous than being asked to stand in one long line and tell your life story.
“If that happened to me when I was auditioning for a part I would run out the door, I wouldn’t want any job that badly. Thankfully you wouldn’t get away with it these days.”
A Chorus Line, The Lowry, Salford Quays, Tuesday, July 23 to Saturday, July 27. Details from www.thelowry.com
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