Newsday from New York, New York • 98

Part2 B7 THEATER REVIEW still kicking but not quite so high UONStsATL PHOTO in of the Month" Dane Cook and Jessica Simpson MOVIE REVIEW This should be let go appealing Michael Berresse) and be a we go jazz for a attitude a the are that of not to truehearted adds to story Designer Robin EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH (PG-13) Dane Cook vies with warehouse-store rival Dax Shepard for work-performance honors and dating rights to the new cashier Fueling the battle is Jessica Simpson curvy as a bronze by Henry Moore and about half as expressive 7:43 (crude and sexual humor and language) At area theaters BY JAN STUART STAFF WRITER Big box stores like Costco and Wal-Mart would seem to offer the perfect setting for comedy if not science-fiction: They are at once disorienting and absurd in their vastness otherworldly in their sense of order and robotic in their gung-ho team spirit of customer sendee of the takes the comedy route and A CHORUS LINE Re-created by Bob Avian after the Michael Bennett original Gerald 'Schoenfeld Theatre 236 45th St Tickets $85 to $110 Call 212-239-6200 Seen at Sunday afternoon preview BY LINDA WINER STAFF WRITER For the gazillions who loved Chorus line" on Broadway from 1975 until 1990 who adored it on the road and around the world who laughed and cried and felt they had come of age with every confession that Michael Bennett culled from the lives of Broadway chorus dancers this is foe chance to hug one another all over again But those of us who admired the show more for its brains than its manipulative soaper heart: Prepare to be accused again of kicking puppies Is 16 years too soon to justify a full-blown nostalgia-fest for foe Pulitzer Prize-winning phenomenon? Ask someone else please Bob Avian protege of Bennett and co-choreographer of the original has put together a tracing-paper revival that plays as if the long-running show had never stopped running This is good and not so good delighted that no one decided to update references to Troy Donahue and Ed Sullivan to improve comprehension by desirable young demographics On the other hand the treatment of every step-kick as holy scripture brings foe feint whiff of mothballs to memory lane To credit he did not try to replicate the look of every member of the original gang cn two dozen gypsies auditioning for just eight jobs in the chorus of a new Broadway show But to our surprise neither did he always match them in quality It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of Chorus to the commercial theater of the 1970s Rock music had run off with the brightest songwriters and audiences Except for Bob dazzling which opened foie same year empty playhouses were filled with desperation This smash whkh began life downtown at the Public Theater did not merely shoot big bucks into the theater economy the euphoria actually galvanized creativity Coinciding with a dance boom the triumph also proved the modem appeal of the dance-driven concept musical In two nonstop hours songs and danc- es grew dramatically from the Charlotte d'Amboise gets a leg up in Chorus it' 1 ii liiJ 6 ikl a Ji A 2 £I-a sets of revolving panels and rear-view mirrors a cliche today were a revelation at the time Theoni costumes created their own rehearsal-chic style No longer modem those fabrics cling in unflattering places Bennett who died at 44 of AIDS in 1987 was a tough subtle master at moving bodies but shameless at playing on easy emotions Chorus with its book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante brilliantly puts together the backstage drama and the seductions of our talent show of a culture Marvin music is middle-of-the-road but always useful Edward wildly smart lyrics may be the most underrated explanation for the success But the banality of foe psychodnunas especially the two big scenes have always left us wanting to rub fingerprints off our sleeves The gay confessional and abrupt punishment of Paul (played with deep sweetness by Jason Tam) suggests that mawkish works if you can dance it The confrontation between director Zach (the his ex-lover Cassie would laughed off a stage if this were play instead of a dancing musical did you leave already left But get to watch the marvelous Charlotte and those beautiful little bones in her back from floppy rag doll to queen then pull herself through a hole in her gut in Musk and the someone please create a new musical her? Deidre Goodwin brings fresh and flirty black-diva to Sheila the sophisticate who want to be called but opens up to share Was Beautiful at Natalie Cortez amuses with the anthem against arty drama teachers Most others are fine a few bland even miscast It was recently reported the original players many whose autobiographical stories became part the show are getting a cent for this revival In a bonanza that purports care so much about poor dancers the news an unpleasant poignancy I Did for iecVOJi ApMi'4i squanders opportunities in just about every aisle it goes down It stars Chevy Chase of the month Dane Cook as a layabout box boy named Zack Bradley whose lack of ambition at a warehouse store called Super Club is only surpassed by his practiced cooL bete noir is Vince (Dax Shepard) a smug corporate climber well on his way to breaking every speed record and leaping up the ladder Zack re mams indifferent to show-offy power grab until a new cashier named Amy is transferred from another Super Club Sexy in a pre-packaged fashion perfectly suited to her work environment Amy presents Zack a goal worth fighting for provided one is completely bankrupt in standard for human contact The new check-out counter See MONTH onBII dance-floor anthem delivering the chorus of can free my world You can free my mind Just as long as my safe from with just the right mix of gospel and defiance Andy and Miller teamed up for the grand sing-along of the Big from the breakthrough debut However it is Del Naja who best embodies the Massive Attack sound whether he is shadowboxing to the skittering beats or commanding attention with powerful performances on the Radiohead-ish or his political statements against the war in Iraq his fiery nature that makes it easy for Massive Attack to step out of the studio and onto the stage without missing a beat a trip-hop beast 2 deliver a fierce version of returning later to handle duties on Massive -Attack has always been about the collective rather than foe individuals an ideal reinforced by the stage set where they are lit from behind and appear mostly as shadows The band has operated with numerous singers and rappers in addition to Del Naja and Marshall and this rotating cast of collaborators Fraser reggae singer Horace Andy and newcomer Deborah Miller helped make the songs seem larger than life Fraser made sound slinky and seductive while keeping dainty Miller helped Del Naja make From into more of a I -c 8 or 3D KJ 0.