The Musical as Drama

reflexivity does create a kind of integrated musical, but not the
kind that is usually meant by that term. This is not the seam-
less integration of book and number. This is the absorbing of
the book into the number, so that the plot is dance and the
only time that matters is lyric time. The interplay between
Cassie and Zach, along with the autobiographies of the other
dancers, are reminders that there is supposed to be a book, but
the book never takes shape and the chorus line does. We will
see more about this later.

THE ENSEMBLE EFFECT 101