Review: A Chorus Line was the result of Michael Bennett's dialogue with real dancers and singers hoping to make it big on Broadway. It's an impressive feat to not only get people to speak openly about their struggles, failures and faults, but to also pull a coherent and enjoyable story out of those conversations. Bennett did exactly that and the result was the Broadway hit A Chorus Line, which eventually won him a Tony Award as well as the praise and admiration of every person trying to make it on Broadway, Hollywood or any theatrical venue. It is with this care and consideration that directors James D. Stern & Adam Del Deo embark on the quest to capture the audition process for the musicals return to Broadway. The result is a heartwarming documentary that adds layers to the original goal of Bennett's A Chorus Line. It is, unfortunately, imperative to separate this documentary from American Idol and other popular reality tv shows. Not that those shows have anything inherently wrong with them, it's just that despite surface level similarities, Every Little Step is just a little bit different. Yes, there is an elimination process and there are competitions between talented performers, but audiences will quickly realize the performances are not shown to help separate the two candidates, but to show how they are similar. There are a few specific people the film seems to encourage you to root for, but even then it’s done so you empathize with the performers success or failure. Because of this focus on the process and the emotions that result from it, background information on each person's life is not all that detailed. What you glean about them you learn much as the judges would, through their brief hello's, goodbye's and auditions. It may sound (and sometimes it is) to bland to really connect with, but you'd be surprised what you can tell about someone in that short amount of time. One scene in particular finds a male auditioner reciting a heartbreaking scene from the musical. The actor starts to cry and audiences at first may just think he is a really good actor, but by the time he finishes the monologue, he's in tears, weeping and apologizing to the judges and you realize, this monologue in someway hits too close to home. No, you never find out why the actor started to weep, but it doesn't matter in the long run, because it's there that you start to notice how these stories relate to everyone who has ever auditioned. There's an endless cycle of stories to refer to, but the point is this, Every Little Step doesn't just record what it sees, it attempts to add to it. For Stern and Del Deo, A Chorus Line isn't the summary of how every performer feels during the audition process, it is the beginning, and they reflect that in their film almost flawlessly. As someone who doesn't enjoy musicals, this was a surprisingly engaging documentary and one definitely worth appreciating. Review by Matthew Abshire Informative: 4- though it lacks details on the people, it’s the process that comes to life Entertainment: 4- you'll run the emotional gamut right along with the auditioners Technical: 4- well paced, with very few hiccups Overall: 4- call it a non-musical, up-dated version of A Chorus Line
 
Format: Theater Year: 2009 Running Time: 96 Min Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics Producer: Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern Director: Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern Date Reviewed: 6-17-2009 Story: Go backstage for an up-close look at a Broadway production with this entertaining documentary that follows hopeful dancers as they audition for coveted spots in the 2006 revival of "A Chorus Line." Drawing parallels between the interactions of the aspiring actors and the events of the play, filmmakers Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern also intercut interview footage of composer Marvin Hamlisch and dancers from the original Broadway production (NetFlix).