Film
Every Little Step
Every Little Step follows aspiring dancers battling through auditions for the 2006 Broadway revival of A Chorus Line, interweaving their personal stories with the show's legend. It's part intimate character study, part theatre history, capturing both the grueling reality of Broadway dreams and the creative genius behind a transformative musical. Essential viewing for dance lovers and anyone curious about theatrical ambition.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love watching people work at the edge of their nerve, and you want the craft of a Broadway audition laid bare, with the sweat, rejection and hope left in.
Skip it if you want a tidy, polished documentary with a clear narrator; this one is loose, scrappy and sometimes more interested in the people in the room than in shaping a story.
What it asks of you: Ninety-six minutes of unscripted rooms and archive clips, moving between tense auditions and history lessons, so it rewards patience more than it dazzles with pace.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Defiant Ones1958
Documentary about two tap-dancing brothers breaking racial barriers in 1920s entertainment. Raw, joyful, and deeply moving—it captures the same hunger and sacrifice you see in Every Little Step.
But Shot on a shoestring budget with modest production values, and the pacing meanders at times.
A Chorus Line1985
The original film adaptation of the stage musical that Every Little Step is about. Not essential viewing before the doc, but it gives you the bones of what those dancers are auditioning for and why it matters.
But The 1985 film version is widely considered inferior to the stage show; it feels stagey and artificially opened up.
Spotlight2015
Different subject, same structural DNA—ensemble of driven people working toward one goal, blending individual stories into something larger. Taut, emotionally intelligent, beautifully made.
But It's about investigating Catholic abuse, not entertainment. The emotional register is heavy throughout.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Every Little Step
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Pollock2000
Both pit individual artistic drive against the weight of legacy and expectation. Both ask: what does genius demand of the person?
Ed Harris directs and stars as Jackson Pollock, showing the violent creativity of an artist obsessed with his craft. Like Every Little Step, it's about the gap between the myth and the struggling human behind it.
But Slow, painterly, and deliberately difficult. The drinking and pain never lift.
More like this (8)
Waiting for "Superman"2010
Documentary about education reformers and families fighting for opportunity. Same investigative spirit as Every Little Step, asking hard questions about systems and dreams.
But Can feel didactic; some viewers find it oversimplifies complex policy issues.
Sunset Boulevard1950
Billy Wilder's masterpiece about ambition, performance, and the brutality of show business. Older but essential for understanding the darker side of the dream that Every Little Step portrays.
But Bleak and cynical throughout. If you're watching for inspiration, this will deflate you.
8 Mile2002
Follows an underdog through competitions and personal struggle to prove himself. Different art form, same urgency and grit. Marshall Mathers is magnetic.
But Heavy on violence and nihilism; the hip-hop battle sequences might feel dated now.
Mad Hot Ballroom2005
Documentary about competitive youth ballroom dancers in New York. Joyful and character-driven, it captures the same transformative power of dance and youth.
But Sometimes veers into saccharine territory; not all the narrative threads land.
Dreamgirls2006
Fictional musical about ambition, competition, and the cost of stardom. Released the same year as the A Chorus Line revival; it's a dramatic mirror to Every Little Step's documentary reality.
But Overlong and bloated. Some performances oversell the emotion.
The Apple1980
Bizarre early 1980s musical set in a dystopian future disco. A genuine curio for anyone fascinated by theatrical ambition in weird forms.
But Genuinely strange and poorly made; this is a film you watch because you're curious about failure, not because it's good.
Advanced Style2014
Both celebrate New York artists who've chosen unconventional lives. Both find dignity and fire in people often invisible to mainstream culture.
Documentary about stylish older people living boldly in New York City. It's pure joy and self-expression—the emotional opposite of Every Little Step, but equally moving about people refusing to fade.
But Slight and whimsical; some find it too slight to carry a full feature.
Synecdoche, New York2008
Both grapple with theatre as a crucible for truth. Both ask what happens when life and performance become indistinguishable.
Kaufman's baroque, exhausting masterpiece about a theatre director staging an impossible play-within-a-play. Formally ambitious and unsettling, it explores how performance and reality collapse into each other.
But Deliberately fragmented and obscure. You may leave frustrated rather than satisfied.
People
Cast
Jason TamHimself
Charlotte d'AmboiseHerself
Tyler HanesHimself- Bob AvianHimself - Revival Director
- German AlexanderHimself (as German Santiago)
- Michael BennettHimself - Original Choreographer & Director (archive footage)
Baayork LeeHerself - Original Connie- Nikki SnelsonHerself - Val Auditionee
- Chryssie WhiteheadHerself - Kristine Auditionee
Paul McGillHimself
Directing
- Adam Del DeoDirector
- James D. SternDirector
Production
- Alex LaGoryAssociate Producer
- Eleanor NettCo-Producer
- Christopher C. ChenExecutive Producer
- Douglas HansenExecutive Producer
- John BreglioExecutive Producer
- Adam Del DeoProducer
- James D. SternProducer