Former West Marin choreographer takes center stage at San Francisco Playhouse

Point Reyes native Nicole Helfer has worked with San Francisco Playhouse as a choreographer since “Cabaret” in 2019. She’s sometimes doubled as a swing performer, prepared to go on in any of a number of different roles if someone gets sick.

But SF Playhouse’s new production of “A Chorus Line” is Helfer’s first time actually cast in one of the theater’s shows. And she’s playing her dream part — the lead role of Cassie, a veteran dancer desperate to get back onstage even if it’s in the chorus.

“It’s kind of a meta experience for me,” Helfer says. “I used to perform a lot, and then I just found my role more as a choreographer. It’s actually been a while since I’ve had such a big performing role. I can definitely relate to Cassie, needing this job and wanting to just be in a show. That’s what really draws me to it, the passion that Cassie has about being a dancer and just wanting to be a part of something that’s bigger than her. Not necessarily wanting to be the star, but just being part of theater is such a big deal to her.”

With music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante, the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1975 musical is always closely associated with its original director and choreographer, Michael Bennett. It follows two dozen dancers auditioning for the chorus of a Broadway musical and telling their personal stories along the way.

Telling stories

“It’s my favorite show of all time,” Helfer says. “Back then, dancers didn’t sing. They were just the dancers. They were kind of voiceless, literally. So it was a beautiful platform for these dancers, who were sort of the lowest rung of the musical theater hierarchy, to tell their stories.”

Helfer is also choreographing the show, whose cast of 26 is the Playhouse’s largest to date.

“I’m doing something a little different with the choreography,” she says. “It’s going to be Bennett-esque, but I’ve really done my own choreography for most of the show. The iconic end choreography is still going be Michael Bennett, as if that is the show we’re trying to get into.”

This will actually be her fourth “Chorus Line.”

“I did a lot of youth theater growing up, particularly with this one company called Marilyn Izdebski Productions,” Helfer says. “That was the summer show the summer I turned 17, so I got to play Cassie when I was 17 years old, which was amazing. The second time I did it with Contra Costa Musical Theatre back in 2010. I got to play Val, which was really fun. And actually Maggie Connard, who’s playing our Judy, was in that production, as well as Alex Rodriguez. They’re playing the same roles that they played before.

“I went to San Francisco State and graduated in 2000, and then later my mentor Barbara Damashek invited me back to recreate the original choreography and also play Cassie.”

Helfer was cast as Cassie again in a production of “A Chorus Line” that Bay Area Musicals planned to stage in San Francisco in April 2020, but as soon as rehearsals started COVID shut everything down, and then that company shutdown.

She directed and choreographed this year’s Mountain Play, “Into the Woods.” Helfer has been choreographing Mountain Play shows since “Peter Pan” in 2015, but this was her first time directing for the company.

‘Look at me!’

“Into the Woods” just closed last Sunday and “A Chorus Line” started performances four days later.

“We have four actors that are in both, which is insane,” Helfer says.

Now living in Oakland, Helfer grew up in Point Reyes and San Anselmo dancing and doing theater from a young age.

“The family story is that my first words were ‘Look at me!’” she says. “I took dance classes when I was 5 or 6. I started with tap. And then Cindy Goldfield was teaching dance classes in Point Reyes, so when I was about 9, I started taking hip hop and jazz classes with her. When I was 11, I started working with Marilyn Izdebski, who also ran a dance studio. I started working there when I was about 14, being an assistant to aid in paying for dance classes.

“And then when I was 15, Marilyn got injured, and I actually had to take over all of her classes, which was crazy. I would teach 15 classes a week, and then I would also be working at a restaurant and going to school and doing all these shows, school shows and Marilyn Izdebski shows. So I’ve been a workhorse since I was a very young person. And I just do it all. I mean, theater is everything that I am. It’s my whole life.”

That’s why “A Chorus Line” resonates so strongly for her.

“I think the song ‘What I Did for Love’ really sums it up,” Helfer says. “People who don’t have that passion as artists don’t really understand, why are you killing yourself to do this role? There’s no fame and fortune. And every artist will tell you, that’s not what it is about. There’s something intangible but magical about being in the theater. Even if it’s ‘skinny redhead, second from the end,’ there’s something so amazing about being a part of a live performance with an audience and being part of a cast that is unlike anything else.”

Sam Hurwitt is a Bay Area arts journalist and playwright. Contact him at shurwitt@gmail.com or on Twitter at twitter.com/shurwitt.

IF YOU GO

What: “A Chorus Line”

Where: San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., San Francisco

When: Through Sept. 9; 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Admission: $15 to $100

Information: 415-677-9596; sfplayhouse.org