'Step' trips

The grindingly familiar metrics of reality-TV elimination shows clash with an interesting retrospective documentary in "Every Little Step."

The movie examines Bob Avian's 2006 Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line," splitting time between a fascinating look back at how the groundbreaking show was created, and a less fascinating look at how the revival is cast.

"Step" includes the original conversations, taped back in the seventies, between Tony-winning choreographer Michael Bennett and the dancers he invited for a 12-hour bull session to discuss their lives.

We hear snippets of their confessional contributions, including bits of dialogue and backstory that became part of the hit show (you wonder if they were paid).

We also learn that Bennett was one of the first men (working with Joe Papp) to extensively workshop the show's characters, and Marvin Hamlisch talks about his musical contributions, and explains how tiny changes to words and titles made huge differences in audience response.

It's very interesting, and will leave you eager for more. But you won't get more. Instead, you'll get cut-aways to the casting process for the 2006 revival, the same drama of winnowing used every night on TV to select top chefs, singers, dancers, etc.

The point, of course, is that the lives of Broadway performers still have the same classic hallmarks, the same dreams and struggles. But can't you make that point without a panel of four judges making Idol-style pronouncements about the parade of auditioners?

I know there's a ready audience for this sort of thing, but I also know there's a slice of the audience that is ready for something else.