A Chorus Line No. 8 - Michel Stuart

Photo by Martha Swope, 1975.

Michel Stuart plays Gregory Gardner. Michel attended High School of the Performing Arts for ‘the two best years of his life.’ The first live ballet he saw was the New York City Ballet’s Firebird. During this period he also saw the original Broadway production of West Side Story, later he toured with Michael Bennett in the international company of West Side Story. When Michael Bennett was looking for “older” veterans for the cast, he invited Michel to audition for the second workshop.

Michel Stuart: "I don't feel cheated by the show's structure or how big or little the role of Gregory Gardner was," Stuart said. "Had my part been enlarged or had I had something more, a relevant song, it would have been a different show. I don't think it would have been necessary to the show that was being made. If I had in fact been a producer at that time and had two or three or even one Broadway show and had gone back there to get a job in the chorus, if that had been my story that would have been interesting. But what we did there was life onstage exaggerated to make it theatrical and not even exaggerated too much."

"Michel Stuart found comfort in the fact that "I felt I was part of this palette of colors. Some needed to be brighter and fuller, and they used more of that color to establish what needed to be done to make a theatrical event possible. Being homosexual for starters is one whole broad color. Now, Sammy's character said a lot about that, but not enough certainly. The colors I could have added to that could have been fun and could have been interesting and could have possibly been equally inspiring as what he did.

Michael Stuart (front). Baayork Lee, Donna McKechnie, Kelly Bishop (behind L-R) Photo by Martha Swope, 1975.

"But the balance of it might not have been correct either unless there had been something between Sammy and myself that we wanted to say together. No one thought of developing that area in the piece any further than the very bold stroke of Sammy's monologue and who he was. They were difficult choices to make because we didn't play many scenes with one another, so in order to say things, to contribute things, they either had to be in a monologue or you had to be speaking to Zach. Had it been a different kind of a book show I think my character could have been used within the context of that piece."

—On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line by Robert Vargas, Baayork Lee, & Thommie Walsh

Phil Donahue Show 3/26/1990

Footage: July 12, 1975 during the off-Broadway run at The Public Theater. Filmed for the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive for the New York Public Library.