Donna McKechnie

Donna McKechnie
Born	November 16, 1940 (1940-11-16) (age 71) Pontiac, Michigan, USA
Occupation	Actor, dancer, choreographer
Website
http://www.donnamckechnie.com

Donna McKechnie (born November 16, 1940)^[1] is an American musical theater dancer, singer, actress, and choreographer. She is known for her professional and personal relationship with choreographer Michael Bennett, with whom she collaborated on her most noted role, "Cassie" from the musical A Chorus Line, for which she earned the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1976. She is also known for playing Amanda Harris/Olivia Corey on the Gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows from 1969 to 1970.

Early life

McKechnie was born in Pontiac, Michigan where she began ballet classes at age five. Her earliest influence was the classic British ballet film The Red Shoes (1948), which prompted her, at age eight, to plan a career as a ballerina. She studied for many years at the Rose Marie Floyd School of Dance in Royal Oak. Despite her parents' strong misgivings, she moved to New York City when she was 17. Rejected after an audition for the American Ballet Theatre, she found employment in the corps de ballet at Radio City Music Hall but walked off the job on the day of dress rehearsal to do summer stock at the Carousel Theatre in Framingham, Massachusetts.

After doing a Welch's Grape Juice commercial and the first L'eggs stockings commercial, she was cast in a touring company of West Side Story. In 1961, she made her Broadway debut in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, where she met choreographer Bob Fosse and his wife, Gwen Verdon. A stint in a Philadelphia production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (as Philia) was followed by the NBC music series Hullabaloo, where she was a featured dancer and met Michael Bennett, who became a guiding force in her life and career.

Broadway

In April, 1968, McKechnie was back on Broadway in the short-lived musical version of Leo Rosten's collection of short stories The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, which led to a featured role in Burt Bacharach and Hal David's Promises, Promises, choreographed by Bennett. Along with Baayork Lee and Margo Sappington, she danced in one of Broadway's most famous numbers, Turkey Lurkey Time. It was here that she first attracted notice from critics and theatergoers alike. This was followed by a role in the touring company of Call Me Madam, starring Ethel Merman.

Bennett showcased McKechnie again in Stephen Sondheim's Company (1970), where she danced Tick-Tock. After leaving the Broadway cast, she reprised her role in the Los Angeles and London companies, and also toured in the 1971 revival of On the Town (as Ivy). In March 1973, she choreographed and performed in the highly acclaimed one-night-only concert Sondheim: A Musical Tribute at the Shubert Theatre in New York. In 1974, she co-starred with Richard Kiley and Bob Fosse in the unsuccessful musical film version of the classic The Little Prince.

McKechnie was part of Bennett's group therapy-style workshops that evolved into the Broadway smash A Chorus Line, in which she portrayed Cassie, a character based in great part on herself. She danced her third famous Bennett-McKechnie number, The Music and the Mirror, in which the vocal sections were tailored to her unusually large range. Initially, Donna was to perform the number with four of her male co-stars but after four previews before opening, McKechnie voiced concern about dancing around the four guys and at the last moment, Bennett changed the direction to have McKechnie perform the song-dance number alone. Her performance earned her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The role of Maggie was also based on her life. She married Bennett in 1976, but after only a few months they separated and eventually divorced, remaining good friends until his death from AIDS in 1987.

In 1980, McKechnie was diagnosed with arthritis and told she never would dance again. She pursued various physical, psychological, and holistic healing remedies, and was well enough to return to the Broadway company of A Chorus Line in 1986. During the remainder of the 1980s she also toured in Sweet Charity and Annie Get Your Gun, and she appeared in a London revival of Can-Can. She also participated in the "Chorus Line" extravaganza to celebrate its then record-breaking run on Broadway in September 1983.

Later career

Her television work included a regular role on the Gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows early in her career, and after her rise to fame, guest appearances on Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Rowan & Martin's Laugh In and Cheers, plus the role of Suzi Laird on several Fame episodes.

In the early 1990s, McKechnie appeared off-Broadway twice, first in a revue entitled Cut the Ribbons, followed by Annie Warbucks, a less successful sequel to the hit Annie. In 1993, she reunited with most of the original cast of Company for three concert performances. In 1996, she was awarded the Fred Astaire Award for Best Female Dancer for her performance in a Broadway adaptation of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's film State Fair. In February, 1997, she played Phyllis in a concert performance of Follies at London's Drury Lane Theatre, and the following year took on the role of Sally in a production of that same show at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.

In 2002, McKechnie starred in the pre-Broadway production of the Jerry Herman musical revue Showtune. In recent years, she has toured periodically in her one-woman show Inside the Music, a potpourri of songs, dances and anecdotes about her life in the theater and her successful battle with arthritis, directed by her old Chorus Line castmate, Thommie Walsh. Her autobiography, Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life, written with Greg Lawrence, was published by Simon & Schuster on August 29, 2006, only weeks before the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line opened on October 5.

In June 2010 McKechnie appeared at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

McKechnie currently is on the faculty of HB Studio in New York City.

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1976 Tony Award Best Actress in a Musical – A Chorus Line
• 1976 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actress in a Musical – A Chorus Line
• 1976 Theatre World Special Award – A Chorus Line

Nominations

• 1996 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical – State Fair

References

1. ^ PBS, Broadway, the American Musical, Bio, at [1].

• McKechnie, Donna; Lawrence, Greg (2006). Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743255208. 

Further reading

• Mandelbaum, Ken (1990). A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett. St Martins Press, ISBN 0312042809
• Viagas, Robert (2nd edition, 1990). . On the Line - The Creation of A Chorus Line. Limelight Editions, ISBN 0879103361
• Stevens, Gary (2000). The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line. (Applause Books, ISBN 1557832218
• Flinn, Denny Martin (1989). What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of 'A Chorus Line' . Bantam, ISBN 0553345931
• Kelly, Kevin (1990). One Singular Sensation: The Michael Bennett Story. Doubleday, ISBN 038526125X

External links

• Donna McKechnie official website
• Donna McKechnie at the Internet Broadway Database
• Donna McKechnie at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Donna McKechnie at the Internet Movie Database
• Broadway Bullet interview with Donna McKechnie (October 19, 2006)
• Donna McKechnie - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org, October 2006
• Career Guides: The Dancer at American Theatre Wing.org, April 2002
• Return To Broadway Working in the Theatre Seminar, April 1996
• TonyAwards.com Interview with Donna McKechnie

Persondata
Name	Mackechnie, Donna
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 16, 1940
Place of birth	Pontiac, Michigan, USA
Date of death
Place of death