Many musicals are about show business life, but none is as much of a valentine to the theater and to the chorus dancers who sweat and toil anonymously for the love of their art as A Chorus Line.

Created in 1975 by the late, great Michael Bennett — surely the role model for the slightly sadistic director-choreographer in the show — the show won nine Tony Awards as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and was at one point the longest-running show in Broadway history.

Because of the many national tours and regional productions it has spawned, it feels like A Chorus Line has never been out of sight for long. Still, it is a pleasure, and a relief, to report that the version at the Kravis Center this week — a spinoff of the 2006 New York revival — has not lost a bit of its emotional impact in the 35 years since it changed the way musicals looked, moved and were developed.

From today’s perspective, it is interesting to note that the prescient Bennett also forecast the appeal of reality television. For what is this grueling, extended dance audition, with its elimination challenges, but a backstage version of Survivor?

Assembled long before the British dominance of Broadway in the 1980s, with that era’s over-reliance on spectacle, A Chorus Line is very purposely set on a bare stage. Its chief special effect is the precision dance skill of its talented young cast.

On that inky black void, Bennett created some exquisite stage images. All major productions since his early death from AIDS have scrupulously duplicated his every move, down to the iconic poses of the 17 hopeful auditioners who put their hearts on the line. The current show is such a reproduction, but it never feels like a museum piece, a tribute to director Bob Avian — who co-choreographed the original show alongside Bennett — and to the performers who keep the characters vivid and fresh.

A Chorus Line stems from tape-recorded histories of veteran chorus dancers that James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante shaped into a documentary-like script. Composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist Edward Kleban fashioned these highly personal recollections into a soaring score with such highlights as the lyrical At the Ballet, the wry memory of a drama class (Nothing) and the anthem of all dancers’ devotion to their art, What I Did for Love.

None of these cast members was born when A Chorus Line was minted, but they inhabit these roles with vigor and they dance with energy and artistry. Standouts in the company include Selena Verastigui as the bouncy Puerto Rican with a distain for improvisation, Kristin Martin as a perky lass who found career success through plastic surgery and Nicky Venditti as a dancer who began in the tawdry depths of the business.

Those who have seen A Chorus Line before may not find anything new here, but this production will remind them how close to perfect this musical is. Those who have never seen the show before owe it to themselves to experience this “singular sensation.”

R E V I E W

A Chorus Line

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Where: Kravis Center, West Palm Beach

When: Through Sunday.

Tickets: $25-$82. Call: (561) 832-7469 or (800) 572-8471.

The verdict: A skilled, well-drilled cast inhabits Michael Bennett’s valentine to ‘gypsy’ dancers with admirable freshness.