A Chorus Line No. 49 - Laurie Gamache
- Lauryn Johnson
- Jul 27
- 2 min read
Final Broadway Cassie - 1990
Laurie: "I studied dance in Illinois with Jack Slater and the Peoria Civic Ballet, in lowa with Mary Joyce Lind and the Des Moines Ballet and at Stephens College in Missouri with Michael Simms and Harriet Ann Gray.
"When I was in college, a friend drove me to Kansas City to see a touring company of A Chorus Line. I didn't get it. It was my first Broadway show and I was so disappointed that there were no fancy sets and costumes. They were wearing leotards like I wore all day, every day as a college dance major. I had been listening to the sound track and the images in my head where more elaborate than the mirror and the white line. I was also pretty shocked by some of the language. Nobody in my life swore like the people in the show did. Honestly, I was more interested in my date then the show.
"I didn't really have a traditional, memorable opening night. I had been touring with the Bus and Truck Company for a year and a half and was transferred into New York as an understudy. If I remember correctly, my first full performance was as Kristine, and I went in during the show because the actress playing Kristine got sick or injured in the opening. It was a comfortable debut because I had been playing Kristine on the road.
"I remember so many things. Obviously, the big events in the life of the show come to mind; our milestone performances, the memorial for Michael Bennett, the last show. Those were exciting because of the audience we had, the entire theater filled with people who loved our characters and the story we were telling.
For me personally, I am most fond of smaller moments. I had been an understudy in the Broadway company for five years before I started playing Cassie. My life at the Schubert was the only life I had here in New York. The people there where my friends, my family, the people I spent my week-ends and holidays with. When I was given the role of Cassie, everyone was very supportive. They stood close to me on stage in an unconscious show of support. I got pats on the butt and hand squeezes, and one time when I had forgotten my lipstick one of my friends grabbed me and smootched me in the middle of the opening number to give me some of hers. Eventually Tom Porter, our stage manager posted a note on the callboard reminding everyone that 'Cassie' is not everyone's little sister. That people at a chorus audition would treat a big star in a more standoffish way. Those are the memories I treasure. things that the audience never knew about. My dear friends and all the fun we had telling a story that was so much like our real lives."
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