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Every Little Step, the documentary about the casting of the revival of A Chorus LIne opens this week and I had the opportunity to speak with the director/producer Adam Del Deo. And we really didn’t dance, it was just so alliterative - I couldn’t resist!     

Susan Kandell: I have an emotional connection to this show - it was the last show I saw before I left New York. And I didn’t think it would affect me like that. I’m supposing that others will view it behind a nostalgic curtain as well. What do you think that Michael Bennett would have thought of it?

Adam Del Deo: The best way to answer that question is that Donna McKechnie came to the world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last year in September 2008. We had not screened the film for anyone at that point and there were over 1,000 people at the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto and it got a five minute standing ovation. Donna McKechnie came out and they went even crazier. We handed the mic to Donna and she said, “I can say that if Michael was alive today, he would have loved the film.”

SK: I’m glad you brought up Donna’s name. One of the things I learned from the film was how to pronounce her name correctly. 

ADD: It was great to have her involved with the film; she was reticent at first. She wanted to make sure before she got involved what the film was going to be like. I think she said no four or five times to an interview. It wasn’t until towards the end that she decided to (participate), but she’s happy that she did. She added some great insight into the movie and frankly, it wouldn’t have been the same film without her involvement.

SK: It was like seeing a documentary within a documentary – it was so multi-faceted. Was it easy to obtain the archival footage?

ADD: No, it was not easy! We got the archival footage from a lot of different sources. One of the primary sources was the New York Public Library (for the Performing Arts) at Lincoln Center. The have an archivist by the name of Patrick Hoffman. I’ve been involved with movies where it’s been less challenging. But we had great archivists and a great team and the time to really work it and we got some great pieces. It wasn’t easy, but I think we have just the right amount of archival footage and there are some actually wonderful gems in there. To see Donna dancing! As you see it on the screen, its imperfect footage, but I thought it was perfect for our movie.

SK: Did I read somewhere that it was the first time that Actors Equity union allowed cameras into the auditions. Did that create any problems for the participants? For them, it’s such a difficult process to go through and that adds another layer of difficulty.

ADD: It was not easy. It was another obstacle we had to overcome. John Breglio laid the initial groundwork and had the initial conversations with Alan Eisenberg and Ken Greenwood who were surprisingly open to it because they saw that the movie would be similar to what the show itself was. Once we got involved, there was a process of Equity becoming comfortable with us. There was a series of phone calls and we met with them. But they agreed to do it. It wasn’t a snap (and he snaps his fingers), but we’re thankful they did! They’ve seen the film and they’re very happy with it. In terms of the specific dancers, every dancer had the right to participate in our film or not, they had to sign a release. There was a member of Equity at every audition explaining to the dancers what was occurring and to the 99.9 percent level – they signed.
All the main characters we were following in the show – Val, Sheila, Paul, Cassie, those characters that were in contention all signed up. So, it worked out fine for us.   
SK: A few years ago, I produced a documentary and I remember what a hassle it was in large group settings to get everyone on board.

ADD: We were around long enough that people forgot our cameras were there. The performers we were shooting were such professionals, they really were! It wasn’t like a reality television show. Part of the process, for me personally, was how I realized the amount of effort and commitment and dedication given to the craft. Every penny they have – they would rather give up a meal then miss a voice lesson. They are just so dedicated to their craft! The odds against them are incredible. There’s like 3,000 people performing for maybe twenty available roles. It’s hard math to look at on paper.

SK: The world premiere was in Toronto. Where did it go from there?
ADD: Our second screening was the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi, which was interesting! From there it was screened at the Berlin Film Festival and then it opened theatrically in Japan in late October. It was hit there! The Japanese people really enjoyed it. And then the weekend before last, it screened at the New Directors/New Film Series at the Museum of Modern Art and at Lincoln Center. It was phenomenal.

SK: There were so many poignant moments. I cried when the dancer who was auditioning for the role of Paul nailed his audition.

ADD: It was like lightening in a bottle. As a filmmaker, you shoot project after project, time after time in your career and sometimes you get a moment like that.

SK: Documentary gold!

ADD: Lightening in a bottle!

SK: (I nod my head in agreement). How many hours of footage did you shoot?

ADD: It was north of 400 hours of footage.

SK: (I recoil).

ADD: We had a lot of cameras. We had seven or eight cameras operating any given day.

SK: How many years did it take you, from the conception of the project until the final outcome?

ADD: Two and one-half years. We spent almost a year shooting and it took four or five months to digitize the footage in order to log it and have efficient days in the editing room. It took a little over a year to edit.

SK: The editing was phenomenal. I loved the juxtaposition of identical parts, only they were 30 years apart.

ADD: It was fun to draw those parallels.

SK: Were there any surprises? Were there dancers that in your estimation were going to get the part, but didn’t? Did you ever say to the cameraman, “Better follow that gal/guy around – I have a good feeling about them.”

ADD: There weren’t huge surprises. John Breglio, Jay Bender did a great job casting the show. In terms of, were there certain characters that maybe Jim and I thought to skew a little differently…….(he smiles broadly), maybe a little bit. But it’s so subjective. If ten people were going to cast the show, you’re probably going to get ten different casts. I understood that they were all really good choices, really well debated and really well vetted out. But we knew, when going through the audition process, we knew which ones were going to be in contention. They were naturally winnowing down. We would hear, “This girl looks great, she’s got a real shot” and that would kind of help us foreshadow our camera crews about who to follow towards the end.

SK: Given the proliferation of the dance programs on television today, and the longevity of the show – Broadway and its revival and tours, the doc can’t miss! I screened the film early one morning – not a conducive time for it, but the moment the house lights went down, it captured me - I was hooked!

ADD: I appreciate your comments! Hopefully we can get people out to see it. We’re in a lucky place; Sony is such a class act. Sony Classics – Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and that whole team.

SK: Thank you so much for bringing this phenomenon to the screen. Now we don’t have to schlep to New York to see it.

ADD: Thank you! 

*** You can find my review of Every Little Step on PopSyndicate at:
http://www.popsyndicate.com/site/story/every_little_step
     

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