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Early Life
Donna McKechnie (born November 16, 1940) is a Tony Award-winning American musical theater dancer, singer. actress and choreographer. November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 45 days remaining. ...
Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ...
Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ...
A contemporary dancer rehearsing in a dance studio Dance generally refers to human movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual or performance setting. ...
A singer is a musician who uses their voice to produce music. ...
Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ...
McKechnie was born in Pontiac, Michigan. She took beginner ballet classes at age five. Her earliest influence was the classic British ballet film The Red Shoes (1948), which prompted her, at age six, to plan a career as a ballerina. 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. Pontiac is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan named after the Ottawa Chief Pontiac. ...
Painting of ballet dancers by Edgar Degas, 1872. ...
Helpmann, Shearer and Massine in The Red Shoes. ...
Angel Corella as Aminta in the 2006 production of Ashtons ballet Sylvia. ...
A Ballet company is group of dancers who perform ballets. ...
Radio City Music Hall at Christmas 2005 Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...
Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country United States State Massachusetts County Middlesex County Settled 1650 Incorporated 1700 Government - Type Representative town meeting Area - Town 26. ...
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, the show's dance captain. 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. For The Games song, see Westside Story (song). ...
Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Lion King at the New Amsterdam Theatre, 2003 Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ...
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a 1961 musical, initially running for 1,417 performances. ...
Choreography (also known as dance composition) is the art of making structures in which movement occurs, the term composition may also refer to the navigation or connection of these movement structures. ...
Bob Fosse, early promotional image Bob Fosse (June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was a musical theater choreographer and director. ...
Gwyneth Evelyn Verdon (January 13, 1925 – October 18, 2000) was an acclaimed Tony Award-winning American dancer and actress, known professionally as Gwen Verdon. ...
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The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...
Guest host Petula Clark introducing her new single, Round Every Corner, on the October 25, 1965 broadcast Hullabaloo was a musical variety series that ran on NBC from January 12, 1965 through August 29, 1966. ...
Bennett on the cover of his 1990 biography by Kevin Kelly Michael Bennett (April 8, 1943 - July 2, 1987) was a Tony Award-winning American musical theater director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. ...
Broadway Fame and Michael Bennett 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 lead 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. Leo Calvin Rosten (April 11, 1908–February 19, 1997) was born on 11 April 1908 in Lodz, Russian Empire (now Poland) and died on 19 February 1997 in New York. ...
This biographical article needs additional references for verification. ...
Hal David (born May 25, 1921 in New York City, New York) is an American lyricist and songwriterFicticiousbyMichaelAlfredMontalbano. ...
Promises, Promises is a musical, based on the film The Apartment by Billy Wilder. ...
Baayork Lee (born 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and author. ...
Texas-born Margo Sappington joined the Joffrey Ballet in 1965 -- at the invitation of Robert Joffrey -- where she danced an extensive repertoire of works including ballets by Gerald Arpino. ...
Call Me Madam is one of Irving Berlins last musical comedies. ...
Ethel Merman (January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was a Tony Award winning star of stage and film musicals, well known for her powerful voice and vocal range. ...
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. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Company is a musical with a book by George Furth and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. ...
Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area City 1,290. ...
This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...
On the Town is a musical that opened on Broadway at the Adelphi Theatre on December 28, 1944, with music by Leonard Bernstein, book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, direction by George Abbott, and choreography by Jerome Robbins. ...
Many theatres are named the Shubert Theatre; many of these are now or were previously owned by the Shubert Theatre Corporation. ...
Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, television, and film actor, though he is best known for his voice work, as narrator of various documentary series. ...
DVD cover The Little Prince is a 1974 musical film based on the book of the same name by the French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery. ...
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. 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. A Chorus Line is a musical with a book by James Kirkwood, Jr. ...
What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ...
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). ...
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. Arthritis (from Greek arthro-, joint + -itis, inflammation; plural: arthritides) is a group of conditions where there is damage caused to the joints of the body. ...
A Chorus Line is a musical with a book by James Kirkwood, Jr. ...
Sweet Charity, based on Federico Fellinis screenplay for Nights of Cabiria, is a musical directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and book by Neil Simon. ...
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical loosely based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley. ...
Can-Can is a 1953 musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, with a book by Abe Burrows. ...
Television and Later Career Her television work included a regular role on the Gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows, guest appearances on The Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Rowan & Martin's Laugh In and Cheers, plus the role of Suzi Laird on several Fame episodes. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Cheers is a popular American situation comedy produced by Charles-Burrows-Charles Productions in association with CBS Paramount Television for NBC. Cheers was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. ...
Fame was an American television series that ran from 1982 to 1987. ...
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. Off-Broadway plays or musicals are performed in New York City in smaller theatres than Broadway, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway, productions. ...
Original cast recording Annie Warbucks, a sequel to the 1977 Tony Award-winning hit Annie, is a musical with a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, and lyrics by Martin Charnin. ...
Annie is a musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. ...
Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska,[1] was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. ...
An autographed photo of Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was one of the great composers of musical theater, best known for his song writing partnerships with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. He wrote more than 900 published songs, and forty Broadway musicals. ...
For work done with Richard Rodgers, see Rodgers and Hammerstein Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was a New-York born writer, producer, and (usually uncredited) director of musicals for almost forty years. ...
State Fair is a musical with a book by Tom Briggs and Louis Mattioli, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and music by Richard Rodgers. ...
Currently home to Lord Of The Rings, the musical. ...
Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theatre located in Millburn, New Jersey, less than 25 miles away from Manhattan. ...
Official language(s) English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area Ranked 47th - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²) - Width 70 miles (110 km) - Length 150 miles (240 km) - % water 14. ...
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. Jerry Herman Jerry Herman (born Gerald Herman on July 10, 1933 in New York City) is an American composer/lyricist of the Broadway musical theater. ...
Showtune logo, 2003 New York production Showtune is a popular musical revue celebrating the words and music of Broadway composer Jerry Herman. ...
Thommie Walsh (born March 15, 1950 - died June 16, 2007) is a Tony Award-winning American dancer, choreographer, and director, and an author. ...
is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
In January 2007, McKechnie was due to open in London's West End in a revival of the Sherman Brothers musical Over Here!. but the production never materialised. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, England, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of Londons Theatreland. Along with New Yorks Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre...
Robert B. Sherman & Richard M. Sherman at the London Palladium in 2002 during the premiere of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Stage Musical. ...
Over Here! is a musical with music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman and a book by Will Holt. ...
Awards 1996 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical --State Fair [nominee] Created in 1955, the Drama Desk Award was created to recognize Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway shows in addition to Broadway shows. ...
1976 Tony Award Best Actress in a Musical -- A Chorus Line [winner] What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ...
1976 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actress in a Musical --A Chorus Line [winner] Created in 1955, the Drama Desk Award was created to recognize Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway shows in addition to Broadway shows. ...
1976 Theatre World Special Award -- A Chorus Line [winner] (Ensemble Performance)
Listen to - Broadway Bullet interview with Donna McKechnie (October 19, 2006)
Watch The American Theatre Wing (ATF) is a New York City-based organization dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre, according to its mission statement. ...
Reference - Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life by Donna McKechnie with Greg Lawrence, published in New York by Simon & Schuster, 2006.
Jean-François Millet Le Semeur (The Sower) Simon & Schuster logo, circa 1961. ...
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