PATRICIA MORRIS BUCKLEY

For the North County Times

Actor/dancer Steve Anthony owes a great deal of his career to a show that almost tanked. In fact, if the show hadn't been struggling, he wouldn't have met director/choreographer Michael Bennett, the man who changed his life forever.

"I moved to New York City in 1970 and my first Broadway show was 'Seesaw,'" said Anthony, an Encinitas resident. "We were out of town and the show was in trouble. The producer called Michael Bennett to doctor the show. Eventually, he took it over when the original director and choreographer were let go. Right away, I had a great working relationship with Michael."

A few years later, Bennett called together 22 dancers and, over two interview sessions, he taped their histories, thoughts on their careers and other personal issues. The resulting show about the lives of Broadway hoofers became the one of the great musicals in theater history.

When "A Chorus Line" opened on Broadway in July of 1975, it went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, nine Tony Awards and ran for 15 years. In 2006, a new production opened on Broadway. Now a national tour of the revival production comes to San Diego next week.

Anthony was not only there at the show's conception, but parts of his life are portrayed within it.

"We started the first taping session at midnight because people were doing shows at the time," he recalled. "We didn't come out of the studio until 10 or 11 in the morning. It was a scary, very intense, funny thing -- almost like a big therapy session. We were asked a list of questions covering how we started dancing to when we came to New York. It really was the cream of the crop of dancers, with people like Tommy Tune and Donna McKechnie."

Often, the session paused as the dancers remembered the more difficult times of their lives and artistic careers. The group bonded as they shared their pasts, discovering how much they had in common. They came back for a second taping session that covered their lives since coming to New York.

Between the first and second workshop, a national tour of "Seesaw" went on the road and Anthony asked to go with it. Only 21, it was an opportunity to see more of the country and to make more money. In his absence, his part in the emerging musical was re-cast with another actor. He did get tickets to the show's opening night on Broadway.

"It was an incredible experience, but I saw people changing," said Anthony. The character of Mark, the youngest of the dancers, is loosely based on Anthony's experiences. "I was the youngest kid in the taping sessions. Most of the other dancers were four to 12 years older than I was and had five to 10 Broadway shows under their belts. I was the newbie on the block."

Anthony's other Broadway credits include "Spotlight," "Rockabye Hamlet" and "The Act," which starred Liza Minnelli. During those years, he worked with such great directors/choreographers as Gower Champion, Hal Prince, Tommy Tune, Peter Gennaro, Martin Scorsese and Graciela Daniele.

In 1991, he moved to San Diego where he acts, directs and choreographs. He also teaches theater at Saddleback College, San Diego University's musical theatre MFA program and at San Diego Junior Theatre. His wife, Jill, is the executive producing director of Miracle Theatre Productions.

He calls his experience with "A Chorus Line" his "15 minutes of fame."

"It's the one thing that people are most interested in," he said, adding that he still gets residuals from the show. "It's been one of the greatest things of my career. I regret nothing from it. I think it's a great piece of musical theater."

"A Chorus Line"

When: 7 p.m. Aug. 13; 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14; 8 p.m. Aug. 15; 2 and 8 p.m. Aug. 16; 1 and 6 p.m. Aug. 17

Where: San Diego Civic Theatre, Third Street & B Street, downtown San Diego

Tickets: $20-$79

Info: (619) 570-1100

Web: www.broadwaysd.com