Song:I Can Do That
Album:A Chorus Line: Original Broadway Cast
A Chorus Line is one of the longest running shows on Broadway and continues to be revived on a regular basis. I Can Do That kicked off the show and Wayne Cilento was in the original 1975 cast. He has gone on to a significant choreography career. The idea for A Chorus Line came from choreographer and director Michael Bennett. He had choreographed several shows including Company and Follies. A Chorus Line was developed from a series of workshops that included most of the 1975 cast including Wayne Cilento. He was born Aug. 28, 1949 in New York City. He took dance classes as a teen. Cilento met Bennett when Cilento appeared in the chorus of the flop musical Seesaw. Bennett was the choreographer. He invited Cilento to the workshops. The book for A Chorus Line was written by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante and the songs were written by Edward Kleban and Marvin Hamlisch. A Chorus Line opened on Broadway Apr. 15, 1975 and it ran for five years. It won nine Tony Awards. I Can Do That was Cilento's big number. He left A Chorus Line for the 1977 show The Act starring Liza Minnelli. That flopped but Cilento got a Tony nomination for his role in the Bob Fosse show Dancin'. He appeared in a few more shows but in the 80s he turned to choreography full time. He won a Tony in 1993 for his choreography for The Who's Tommy. He has worked on other shows and also as a choreographer for concert acts, TV shows and music videos. You can get the 1975 cast album of A Chorus Line as a budget CD. The show was turned into a film and has been revived on Broadway many times. It's a very durable show. Here is Wayne Cilento performing I Can Do That on the 1981 PBS TV show American Dance Machine Presents a Celebration of Broadway Dance. It doesn't appear to be available on DVD.
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