Review: Luminous and Legendary Donna McKechnie Plays A MUSICAL MEMOIR at The Laurie Beechman Theatre

Last Sunday brought a new month, it brought us a week of more temperate weather, it brought us just a little closer to spring, and it brought a welcome new show to the cabaret season.  Tony Award winner, legend, and the kindest Lady in the business, Donna McKechnie, returned to the nightclub stage with her show A MUSICAL MEMOIR, and a full house of Laurie Beechman Theatre patrons ovated her heartily, as she took her first bows in the basement.  MEMOIR is scheduled as a monthly residency at the club that just celebrated its first year under the aegis of The D’Angora’s, Michael and Tom, who acquired The Westbank Cafe/The Laurie Beechman Theatre and have spent the last year-plus filling it with exciting entertainment and illustrious artists.  Ms. McKechnie is one of four divas to take up residence in the basement club; the others are Andrea McArdle, Lillias White, and Lorna Luft - McArdle has been playing the room since September, Luft kicked off shows in January, and White opens on March 6th (tonight).   On March 1st, though, it was McKechnie’s moment.  

For her musical look back at her life in the business of show, Ms. McKechnie has curated a series of stories about the plays performed, the path walked, and the people on the path with her.  There is hardly a name mentioned that students or aficionados of the theatre wouldn’t recognize, not the names of the plays, and not the names of the colleagues and comrades.  Any person with a grasp of the history of show business may find themselves sitting at their table, heart beating fast, and an ever-growing smile on their face, as they nod their head in tacit understanding, glad just to be in the room with this legend, hearing these stories.  Also, and it has to be said, the word legend is applied liberally in many situations, on many occasions, and to people who haven’t the distinction, but this is one of those cases when the artist on the stage is a true-blue legend, a major thread in the tapestry that is American Theater.  A Musical Memoir might, well, be the most entertaining show in cabaret right now, but since it is Donna McKechnie's memoir, it is definitely the most important.  

Working with Musical Director Ian Herman, Ms. McKechnie has scored her cabaret with compositions from plays in which she has acted, and shows that aren’t on her CV, and that is a blessing in both directions because those who didn’t see her turn as Philia in FORUM get a glimpse into that performance, while those who saw her play Charity Hope Valentine get a reminder of what her interpretation was like, and those who dream of what she might have been like as Mama Rose get a chance to live out that fantasy, as Donna performs her own versions of “Lovely,” “Where Am I Going?" and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.”  With a properly constructed script flowing in and around the songs chosen to represent her life in the theater, McKechnie is presenting a true memoir in a cabaret room.  A few years back, Lena Horne presented a similar piece in two acts at The Nederlander theater on Broadway, and today, Donna McKechnie is treating her audiences to a one-act at The Beechman - different styles and structures, but definitely the same vibe.   

In non-linear fashion, Donna McKechnie reminisces about her early days in the business, family response to her wish to perform, New York of the Nineteen Sixties and Seventies, the first auditions, the tours, the Broadway productions, and special moments with Stephen Sondheim, Gwen Verdon, Hal Prince, Bob Fosse, Baayork Lee, Michael Bennett, and even Fred Astaire (“We’re going to say the names, here,” Donna jovially declares), and through descriptive monologues and specific speeches, one is actively able to conjure in one’s mind the locations, the faces, and the moods being recounted, all in that dulcet voice and benevolent syntax.  To sweeten the deal, McKechnie and Herman have populated the storytelling with songs from the shows… but not the songs that she sang.  On The Town… not Ivy Smith’s song.   Company… not Kathy’s song.  A Chorus Line… not Cassie’s song.   It’s a little bit of brilliance, highly effective, and incredibly appropriate, keeping McKechnie in the lane and in the story, but shining new light, as she performs Gabey’s number, and Bobby’s song, and her own story that wound up in A Chorus Line, but performed by other women.  It does not disappoint, indeed, it illuminates.  

The other things that don’t disappoint are a quiet yet powerful “One For My Baby” that showcases Donna’s depth of understanding for interpreting a musical story, Ed Kleban’s “Broadway Boogie Woogie,” applied to the business of being an actor, and an eye-opening “Send in the Clowns” that serves as a full representation of the Desirée Armfeldt once played by Donna McKechnie.  This isn’t a “Send in the Clowns” created for a cabaret - this is a fully realized performance lifted directly out of Act Two, Scene Six.  McKechnie is recreating moment by moment, emotion by emotion, and showing the audience what they might have seen, had they been lucky enough to go out of town to see one of her two appearances in A Little Night Music.   It is as original a performance of the classic composition as a person could witness, multi-faceted and fascinating, a joy and privilege to behold - unique, individual, and absolutely worth catching.

Supporting Ms. McKechnie in her efforts are the aforementioned Musical Director Ian Herman at the piano, Ray Kilday on Bass, and Ray Marchica on Drums; these gentlemen who are behind Donna McKechnie every time she gets up on a stage are as good as a girl can get.  They step up to the plate with their proficiency, and they protect their headliner at every turn, giving her the best that they’ve got so that she can give us the best that she’s got.  With them by her side, Donna can relax into the moment and focus on her task as storyteller and singer, for she is in great voice, and she can even be seen executing some lovely terpsichore, here and there.  The Lady is, indeed, fortunate to have these gentlemen backing her at all her shows, and this one is no exception.   Together, the four performing partners have created something sublime, something entertaining, something worth seeing, and worth paying attention to.  A MUSICAL MEMOIR is not to be missed, and, fortunately, has been booked into The Laurie Beechman for three more performances between now and June 10th.  So, friends, get thee to The Beechman at your earliest convenience, and revel in the experience of being in the room with a real-life, bona fide One and Only.

Donna McKechnie’s A MUSICAL MEMOIRE Plays The Laurie Beechman Theatre once a month, through June.  Access tickets on the Laurie Beechman website HERE.

Follow Donna McKechnie on Instagram HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher