‘A Chorus Line’ Set to Tour the U.K. After West End Revival

“A Chorus Line” will tour the U.K. at the end of its upcoming West End revival, whenever that end may come.

Director Bob Avian revealed to The Stage that a tour is “built in” to the deal with producers. The show will begin previews at the London Palladium on February 5, and currently is scheduled to run until January 2014.

“What’s built in already is a tour following [the West End run],” Avian said. “No matter how long it runs here we will get a tour out of it. The producers are known for touring and that was part of the deal.”

The show’s producers include Adam Kenwright and Mark Groucher.

“We did not know how long we could run here [in London], because of the theater’s availability and because the size of the theater eats up your advance so quickly, so the tour was very important to us,” Avian continued. “That is why we went with these [producers], who are known for their tour expertise.

The new production of “A Chorus Line” stars Scarlett Strallen, John Partridge and Leigh Zimmerman. The original Broadway production premiered in 1975, with the first London version coming the following year. Avian was co-choreographer of the original Broadway version of the musical and also directed the Tony-nominated Broadway revival of the show in 2006. Avian has also worked on the West End previously as a choreographer on “Martin Guerre” and “The Witches of Eastwick.” He said that the tour would not be a separate production that could tour while the West End version continues to run.

“It would be this physical production — the sets, the costumes, the lighting — so we don’t have to build it all again,” he said.

The show is a full revival of the original, and features a book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, a score by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban.