A Chorus Line is built from 12 main musical numbers, from the opening “I Hope I Get It” to the gold-top-hat finale “One”, and each one is a dancer’s confession at a Broadway audition. Here is every song in order, who sings it, what it reveals, and how the 1985 movie changed the score.
A Chorus Line was conceived by Michael Bennett, with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. It grew out of taped workshop sessions in which real Broadway dancers talked about their lives. The show opened Off-Broadway at The Public Theater on April 15, 1975, then moved to Broadway’s Shubert Theatre on July 25, 1975 (IBDB). It won nine of its twelve Tony nominations, including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score, as well as the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and ran for 6,137 performances, the longest Broadway run in history at the time.
What songs are in A Chorus Line?
A Chorus Line has 12 main numbers, and the middle of the show is a long “Montage” in four parts, so you will see the total listed as anywhere from 12 to 15 depending on how the montage and the finale are counted. The show plays in one continuous act, about two hours with no intermission, according to its licensing house (Concord Theatricals).
The setting never changes: a bare Broadway stage in 1975, a white line painted across the floor, and a row of mirrors. Zach, the director, has cut the field down to 17 dancers and needs four men and four women. Instead of just watching them dance, he asks each of them to talk about themselves. The songs grow out of those answers. That is why the score feels unusual. Very few songs are about the plot; almost all of them are about memory, from first dance classes to puberty to the fear of growing old.
Three songs became standards far beyond the show: “What I Did for Love”, the anthem about having no regrets; “One”, the finale, which has become shorthand for Broadway glitz; and “At the Ballet”, a trio about escaping an unhappy home through dance.
What is the A Chorus Line song list in order?
| # | Song | Who sings | What it reveals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I Hope I Get It | Company | The audition begins; every dancer is desperate for the job |
| 2 | I Can Do That | Mike | The youngest of 12 children took over his sister’s dance class |
| 3 | And… | Bobby, Richie, Val, Judy | The dancers worry about how much of themselves to reveal |
| 4 | At the Ballet | Sheila, Bebe, Maggie | Three women remember ballet as an escape from unhappy homes |
| 5 | Sing! | Kristine, Al and company | A tone-deaf dancer and her husband finish each other’s phrases |
| 6 | Montage Part 1: Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love | Mark, Connie and company | Group memories of puberty and adolescence |
| 7 | Montage Part 2: Nothing | Diana | A high-school acting teacher who told her she had no talent |
| 8 | Montage Part 3: Mother | Don, Judy, Maggie and company | Parents, first jobs and family pressure |
| 9 | Montage Part 4: Gimme the Ball | Greg, Richie and company | Discovering who you are, and the road not taken |
| 10 | Dance: Ten; Looks: Three | Val | Talent wasn’t enough, so Val changed her looks |
| 11 | The Music and the Mirror | Cassie | A former featured dancer asks for a chance to start again |
| 12 | One | Company | The dancers rehearse the number they’re auditioning for |
| 13 | The Tap Combination | Company | A tap routine that ends with Paul’s injury |
| 14 | What I Did for Love | Diana and company | What will they do when they can’t dance any more? |
| 15 | One (Reprise) / Finale | Company | Bows in identical gold costumes |
Paul’s long monologue, one of the most famous scenes in the show, is spoken rather than sung. It comes between “The Music and the Mirror” and the “One” rehearsal. For a closer look at each dancer, see our A Chorus Line characters explained guide.
Who sings each song in A Chorus Line?
The show is a true ensemble piece, with no single lead, and the songs are shared among the auditioning dancers:
- Zach, the director, speaks to the dancers from the back of the house and barely sings. He is the voice asking the questions.
- Cassie has the biggest solo dance moment, “The Music and the Mirror”. She and Zach once lived together, and she is back at a chorus audition after her solo career stalled. Donna McKechnie won a Tony for the role.
- Diana Morales sings two of the score’s most important songs: “Nothing” and “What I Did for Love”. Priscilla Lopez created the role.
- Sheila, the sharp-tongued veteran, leads “At the Ballet” with Bebe and Maggie. Kelly Bishop won a Tony as Sheila.
- Mike opens the confessions with “I Can Do That”.
- Kristine and her husband Al share “Sing!”
- Val has “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three”, the show’s funniest and most blunt song about cosmetic surgery.
- Mark, Connie, Don, Judy, Greg and Richie take the lead in sections of the Montage.
- Paul has no song but the show’s central monologue. Sammy Williams won a Tony for the role.
We covered an international staging of the show, in Manila, in our A Chorus Line Manila review, which shows how much these roles depend on the individual performers.
What is ‘What I Did for Love’ about?
“What I Did for Love” comes right after the most frightening moment in the show. During the tap combination, Paul falls and reinjures his knee, and he is carried off to the hospital. The remaining dancers realize that any of their careers could end the same way. Zach asks them what they will do when they can no longer dance.
Diana answers for all of them. The song says that whatever happens next, they won’t regret the years they gave to dancing, and the love in the title is the love of the work itself, not of a person. That is easy to miss, because the song became a hit as a romantic ballad outside the show, and many singers have recorded it that way. Inside A Chorus Line, it is about a vocation.
It is also one of the few moments when the whole group sings together about the future rather than the past. After two hours of looking back at childhood, the show turns forward just before the final cut is made. Then Zach announces the eight dancers who got the job: Mike, Cassie, Bobby, Judy, Richie, Val, Mark and Diana.
Why is ‘One’ the finale of A Chorus Line?
“One” is the song the dancers are actually auditioning for. It is a number for an unnamed star in the show they hope to join, and the chorus line is there to make that star look good. We first see it as a rehearsal, where Zach tells Cassie she stands out too much and should blend in. That argument is the heart of the show: is it worth being one of many?
The finale answers it with a stage picture. Every character, including those who were cut, comes out for a bow in an identical gold costume with a top hat. As the line grows, the people we spent two hours getting to know become hard to tell apart. The effect is both glamorous and sad. The audience has learned that every dancer in the line has a full life story, and now they have to watch those stories disappear into the kick line. Instead of a conventional curtain call, the line keeps kicking as the show ends.
Musically, “One” is built on a classic show-tune vamp, with a strutting rhythm and brass punctuation. It is meant to sound like the kind of number that would end a big commercial musical, which is exactly the point.
Want to play these songs yourself? Hamlisch’s score is full of classic Broadway piano writing, from the vamp under “One” to the ballad chords of “What I Did for Love”, and learning those patterns is a great way to play show tunes by ear. Try Pianoforall.
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How are the songs different in the A Chorus Line movie?
Richard Attenborough’s 1985 film, with Michael Douglas as Zach, made big changes to the score, and many fans of the stage show were unhappy with them.
- “Surprise, Surprise” is a new song for Richie that replaces “Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love”. Some of the montage’s spoken memories are kept without music. “Surprise, Surprise” was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
- “Let Me Dance for You” replaces Cassie’s “The Music and the Mirror”, though it keeps its opening section and part of the dance music.
- “Who Am I Anyway?” gives Paul a short solo, built from a section that was part of “I Hope I Get It” on stage.
- Cut: “And…”, “Sing!” and “The Tap Combination”, along with most of the Montage.
- “What I Did for Love” changes singer and meaning. On stage, Diana sings it for the group as a song about dancing. In the film, Cassie sings it as a wistful love song about Zach.
- The final eight change too: in the movie, Bebe is chosen instead of Judy.
The film keeps “I Hope I Get It”, “I Can Do That”, “At the Ballet”, “Nothing”, “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three” and “One”. If you only know the movie, the original Broadway cast album is the best way to hear the score as written.
For a comparison with a very different kind of hit score, try our Mamma Mia songs explained guide, or see how another ensemble show handles a big cast in Hamilton characters explained.
Frequently asked questions
How many songs are in A Chorus Line?
There are 12 main numbers. Count each part of the Montage and the finale separately and the list comes to 15.
Does A Chorus Line have an intermission?
No. The show runs about two hours in a single act with no intermission, according to Concord Theatricals, which licenses it.
Who wrote the songs in A Chorus Line?
Marvin Hamlisch wrote the music and Edward Kleban wrote the lyrics. Michael Bennett conceived, directed and co-choreographed the show, and the book is by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante.
What is the most famous song from A Chorus Line?
“What I Did for Love” and “One” are the best known. “One” has become shorthand for a classic Broadway kick line.
Is A Chorus Line based on real dancers?
Yes, loosely. The show grew out of taped workshop sessions in 1974 in which Broadway dancers shared their life stories, and eight of those dancers appeared in the original cast.
