A Chorus Line No. 11 - Thommie Walsh
- Lauryn Johnson
- Jul 9
- 2 min read
“Thommie Walsh read his own monologue at the audition, a memoir about his moving to Florida with his grandparents when his parents separated. As Walsh was reading the story from two typed pages, he realized that other actors were reading the same monologue, auditioning for the same part. He began to get upset.
“’I thought it was a joke,’ Walsh said. ‘I hated it. I thought, How can anybody do this better than I?’ So I decided to act it to no end. I gave them Marlon Brando. And Michael said, ‘Just stop it. Put that down and tell me about yourself.’
“’I put down those two pages of monologue that they had condensed from my part of the tape. I was real and honest and pure and naked, totally vulnerable, appealing. He said, Now sing your song. So I sang ‘Forget Your Troubles.' I could see Marvin Hamlisch just freaking out about me, and Michael is kind of going It's all right, just cool it? I could see the body language happening: Michael wanted me but Marvin Hamlisch did not want my ass at all. But I got it. Oh yeah, I did."
—On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line by Robert Vargas, Baayork Lee, & Thommie Walsh
"Thommie Walsh's costume was a statement of personal style. 'I was always wearing my little sweaters and my scarves,' he said. 'I was wearing scarves during this show called Music! Music! [for which Aldredge had done costumes] and Theoni had picked up on [the fact that] a scarf and sweater was definitely a signature of mine. I felt comfortable because I didn't feel skinny. I wasn't wearing just a leotard and tights; I had a little bit of armor. It had a lot do do with my character, that costume did. It was a good costume.'"
—On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line by Robert Vargas, Baayork Lee, & Thommie Walsh
“It was even harder for Thommie Walsh to crystallize the role of Robert Charles Joseph Henry Mills III, a.k.a. Bobby. ‘My material was integrated with Connie's story and Richie's story and Judy's story and Val's story, he said. But Walsh, too, had a consolation: ‘I was eternally grateful for that wonderful position with two women playing on either side of me. It was a very powerful position he blessed me with.’
“’I had Donna and Kelly on one side of me and I had Nancy and Trish on the other side of me, just one off center. ‘I was sometimes terribly jealous and burnt that Wayne was singing and dancing and my thing was a monologue. Once I started feeling my oats and knew my lines, then it became like that first night at the tape sessions. I had a middle and an end in my character and I made that happen. So I was basically happy with my moment.’”
—On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line by Robert Vargas, Baayork Lee, & Thommie Walsh
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