Disher Stages Singular Sensation At SCC

The year was 1977—a dark chapter in New York history.

But among crime-riddled neighborhoods and a financial crisis, artistry and Broadway were booming. And just about every night, the Schubert Theatre on West 44th Street was packed to capacity.

Moments into the record-breaking show there, “A Chorus Line,” 21-year-old Michael Disher immediately understood why. As seen from the stage, he was just one face in a sea of 1,460, lost in a timeless tale that resonates with any performer who has ever hoped to “get it,” knowing dreams cannot last forever.

“You see something like that and you just go, ‘Oh, okay, this is definitely a life-changing event,’” Mr. Disher recalled last week during a telephone interview. “Once ‘A Chorus Line’ gets under your skin, it’s really difficult to let it go. And whenever you have the opportunity to mount it, you do it.”

His first chance came in 2002, during Mr. Disher’s former life as head of Southampton College’s theater department, when the school was still affiliated with Long Island University. The second arrived three years later, shortly after the college announced its imminent closure: He wanted to go out with a bang. It would be the last show he would ever direct on that stage, and there was only one clear choice.

“It was terrifically bittersweet and ultimately very, very fulfilling,” Mr. Disher said of the production, which he will reprise for a third time, opening Thursday night at the Southampton Cultural Center. “Now, I thought it was time. I’m getting to an age where I don’t think I have very many more years left in me.”

He has never felt more tired, or satisfied, than directing this most recent production, he said, based religiously on Michael Bennett’s original staging. That may have to do with Mr. Disher sharing stage time with his cast of 23 as Zach, an anal-retentive director putting a line of performers through the wringer, all for a minor role in a Broadway musical. It is Mr. Disher’s first time on stage in nearly 20 years, he said—short of dancing in a gorilla suit during both of his productions of “Cabaret.”

“It’s much easier to hide behind a gorilla costume,” he laughed. “One of the bigger dreams I’ve had is the role of Zach. I never felt confident enough to tackle the role, but I do this time. How about that!”

Dressed in leotards and dance wear, and set against a backdrop of mirrors, these hopefuls auditioning for Zach range from cocky tapper Mike Costa and former drag queen Paul San Marco, to a newly buxom Valerie Clark and veteran dancer Cassie Ferguson—the latter acted by Shannon DuPuis, a lifelong dancer herself.

“Unfortunately, I see a lot of myself in Cassie,” Ms. DuPuis said on Monday during a telephone interview. “She’s one of the older ones and trying to hang on to her dream as a dancer, but it starts to fall through your fingers, and there’s not a whole lot left for you to do, which is why I took the road I did. I can’t do the things I used to do, but I still want to be performing.”

Coming up as a studio and competitive dancer, Ms. DuPuis transitioned into musical theater after stepping into Mr. Disher’s 2002 audition room at Southampton College. Little did she know, she had also walked into a fairly established family—one that welcomed her with enthusiastic arms.

She has worked with three generations of performers over the last 13 years alongside Mr. Disher, who said he quickly learned, “You have two ways to do ‘A Chorus Line’: You do it the right way, or the wrong way. There is no gray area at all. None.”

That pressure can be overwhelming, she said. And, she added, there is no better feeling.

“There’s always nerves, but I think you need to be that way,” she said. “I definitely know this show inside and out, but I will always have the butterflies, and I will always have a scared excitement waiting backstage. But that’s the high that performers live for.”

The moment Mr. Disher waits for is watching the final curtain fall. That is when “A Chorus Line” comes into focus, he said.

“You never really understand how much it means to you until after it closes. There’s a great gravitas attached to this show,” he said. “The bottom line is about opportunity. How do you earn it, how do you achieve it, how do you get it? I don’t think the story ever ages. Dancers do, but this story doesn’t.”

Over the course of rehearsal, the action on stage becomes natural, Ms. DuPuis explained. For some, the struggles these dancers face are not a big departure from real life. There is at least one person on the line that everybody can relate to, she said, including Mr. Disher, who is settling into the formidable role of Zach quite nicely.

“‘A Chorus Line’ is a responsibility. There’s a legacy attached to it. There is reputation, there is history. It’s almost like you feel obligated and privileged at the same time,” he said. “You know me—I have high standards. It will be the best it can be. This group doesn’t have any other choice.”

“A Chorus Line,” directed by Michael Disher, will open on Thursday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m. at the Southampton Cultural Center. Performances will continue through Sunday, March 22, on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 and $12 for students under age 21 with ID. Dinner-and-theater packages are also available. For more information, call (631) 287-4377, or visit scc-arts.org.