Feature: 30 Days Of Cabaret Gratitude - Day Twenty-Two - The Light

Donna McKechnie - The Light

There isn't a person who doesn't know the name Donna McKechnie. The Tony Award recipient for A Chorus Line is one of the most universally beloved artists in the industry, and that love flows at her from all directions, swirling around her in a continual whirlpool of positive energy, energy that travels onto the stage with her, every time. On or off the stage, Donna McKechnie is the purveyor of a purity of heart, a generosity of sprit, a beauty that exudes from her in every sentence she speaks, every song that she sings, and, even, to this day, the moves of a consummate dancer. There is a quality about Ms. McKechnie that this writer (who has been there) best describes as standing in the Swiss Alps after a newfallen snow. The vista is pristine, the air is rarified, and the quality of light is at its most naturally perfect. That's Donna McKechnie - a woman who has lived her life surrounded by the racy folk of show business who has remained a beacon of goodness and gentility. Her kindness, her nobility , her open heart, and her surviving spirit are all on full display whenever she is up on the cabaret stage (or in the audience, or your living room, or just walking down the street). For years Ms. McKechnie has been making cabaret and concert audiences happy with her solo shows and with acts that she performs alongside her woman friends from the annals of the Broadway stage, and any time she has recreated moments and moves from "The Music And The Mirror" on those tiny stages, audiences have been transported to McKechnie and Musical Theater Nirvana.

Donna's Sondheim memoir musical TAKE ME TO THE WORLD was one of the best shows of 2022, showcasing not only the special relationship she had with The Maestro, but her own individual understanding of his artistic voice, his poetry and his melodies, and his specific style of storytelling. She inspires laughter with her reminiscences, breaks hearts with one of the best "Send In The Clowns" ever to be seen, and she showers the darkened nightclub with love - love for Stephen Sondheim, love for the art of performing, and love for the people in the seats out front, the people who make the cabaret experience possible by providing the artist with the essential exchange of energy. When it is Donna McKechnie on the stage that exchange of energy is swathed in benevolence. She is one of the Wonders of the World and we lucky New Yorkers don't have to travel to see her; we need only buy a ticket and show up. To make more profound her largesse, Donna takes her artistry out into the world to share it with audiences far and wide, as she has recently done with a trip to London to play her Sondheim show at Crazy Coqs for three nights. Taking Donna McKechnie to the world is a wonderful thing that nobody should take for granted because this is one of the special people, this is one of the irreplaceable peformers, this is one of The Great Ladies.

There is never any need for a lighting designer when Donna McKechnie is on a stage because all the light that is needed emanates from within The Lady herself, bright and beautiful as the morning sunrise or a full moon shining off of a newly fallen snow.

Donna McKechnie is The Light: weightless, resplendent, and filling every corner of the room and the heart.

Read the Broadway World Cabaret review of a Donna McKechnie show HERE.

Donna's online presence is as follows:

Website: Click HERE.

Instagram: Click HERE.

Facebook: Click HERE.

Twitter: Click HERE.

Donna's pronouns are She/Her/Hers

Donna's future projects include:

A return of TAKE ME TO THE WORLD - THE SONGS OF Stephen Sondheim to 54 Below on March 9, 10, & 11 of 2023.

Photos by Stephen Mosher; visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.