A Chorus Line No. 9 - Donna McKechnie
- Lauryn Johnson
- Jul 8
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 14
Donna McKechnie and Michael Bennett met as dancers on the variety show Hullabaloo in the 1960s. In her book she recalls:
“One of my partners on the show was a young dancer from Buffalo, New York, named Michael Bennett, and the two of us hit it off from the first rehearsal. Michael and I were terrific together, and as time went on, we became popular as partners. We seemed to complement each other with our dancing. Michael was a strong jumper, sexy and always dynamic. With my ballet background, I was more lyrical, though able to match his energy and drive.
“During our second season, the dancers were given their own dance number, and we were each given the opportunity to choreograph our own section. Michael created an exciting drum solo for himself. I begged him to help me because I was going to do the last section of the number and didn't know where to begin. That was the first time he choreographed for me, and it was a great success. The piece was highlighted by a complicated series of jeté turns in a circle. I was a strong turner, and the combination showed me off to advantage. He gave me incredible freedom in that regard, choreographing to my strengths. After that first experience, we fell into a kind of mutual appreciation. Because of our creative rapport, Michael Bennett would turn out to be the greatest single influence in my career, for better and for worse.”
—Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life by Donna McKechnie
Below, you can see the first solo Michael ever choreographed for her. He dances the solo right after Donna. Donna's solo begins at 2:00.
“Ed and Marvin came up with a new song, "The Music and the Mirror," which was a powerful evocation of a dancer's reality and dreams. I had been interviewed by Ed Kleban, and he wrote lyrics that reflected what I told him about my relationship to music and dancing. I had never verbalized my feelings about my desire to dance and the protective fantasy life that dancing gave me, allowing me to live in the music. I felt my efforts to explain this to Ed were clumsy, but hoped that I had given him something to work with. I had to hold back tears the first time I heard his lyrics. He captured me and my feelings perfectly in the most simple, beautiful, and poetic way.
“Give me somebody to dance with
Give me a place to fit in.
Help me return to the world of the living,
By showing me how to begin.
Play me the music,
Give me the chance to come through.
All I ever needed
Was the music and the mirror,
And the chance to dance For you.”
—Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life by Donna McKechnie
Donna: “I went to Michael's apartment one night along with Bob Avian, drummer Bobby Thomas, and Marvin Hamlisch, who was at the piano and writing while we talked. They allowed me to break down what I thought should happen musically following the dramatic line of Cassie's experience. […] I thought a changing tempo could reflect Cassie's emotional rollercoaster ride from the moment she connected with her anger in facing Zach at the audition. At that point, I suggested going into a slow 4/4, which feels sexy, showing another kind of determination after a driving rhythm, then building again toward a climax. We didn't have strings, but we had brass, and Marvin suggested a trumpet solo over the rhythm. I thought that was fantastic. In my mind there was an emotional dynamic between those two levels in the music, a really exquisite ambivalence with Cassie's sexuality emerging from the rhythm of the drums and her yearning reflected in the plaintive trumpet line.
“By the end of the solo, the dance perfectly reflected the idea of the lyrics, and the audience was able to see Cassie's transformation, ideally realizing that she had resolved something in her feelings that she had never dealt with before.”
—Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life by Donna McKechnie
“Part of the reason the number ultimately worked so well was that Michael pushed me almost beyond endurance, adding a fourth turn at the end, when I was exhausted, so the audience would see my sweat and strain when I had to reach for it like it was life-or-death. He wanted everyone to be asking themselves, "Will she make it?" And I found myself asking the same question, night after night. But that was Michael at his best, when he was inspired and pushing for that kind of raw excitement that was suited for the character, and ultimately culminated in the success of the whole story.
“That was one of the ways that Cassie's struggle became universal, a metaphor that not only dancers could identify with. I was dancing and singing about this rarefied existence of a dancer: "God, I'm a dancer." But the image resonated in so many ways: "God, I'm a teacher... I'm a doctor.. I'm a person." People from all walks of life connected with her, especially her desire for a second chance.”
——Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life by Donna McKechnie
Returning the the Role 10 Years Later
“This was to be one of the most satisfying full circles I would travel in my life. Ten years after I had first performed in A Chorus Line, I was returning to the same production, the same theater, the same run, the same role. No actor had ever done that before because up to that time no show had ever run so long. The other irony to me was that this show that had so much of my life in it was now giving it back to me with a new opportunity. I was scheduled to appear for eight weeks starting September 1, 1986, though as it turned out, I would stay with the show for the next eight very happy months.”
"My entire time on that run of the show was poignant. The reviews and publicity were inspiring, and it was wonderful to reclaim the role, to be welcomed back that way, to be where I felt I belonged, to be with my friends and to be dancing again. My return was really a vindication for me in this new relationship I was trying to have with myself. I was more compassionate. Compassion was a big issue for me, to be able to forgive myself, when I had so much shame after so many years of feeling that I wasn’t good enough. Coming to terms with that inner conflict allowed me to see myself and to see other people more clearly, to work more effectively and bring better people into my life.
“Ms. McKechnie dances as terrifically as ever—and perhaps more urgently. Here is a performer doing her job with complete conviction, for love of working, long after the parade of sold-out houses and fame has passed by. That is the spirit enshrined by A Chorus Line, and that’s why Mr. McKechnie’s 1986 Cassie induces the shiver that comes when performer, role and theatrical history all merge into a poignant one.”—Frank Rich, New York Times
"You can sit in the dark of the Shubert Theater, eternal home to 'A Chorus Line,' and hear Donna McKechnie pleading, as first she did more than 11 years ago, 'Use me, choose me."'You can see her, a sinuous harmony of bone and muscle, dancing, as first she did more than 11 years ago, before a golden flash of mirrors. You can congratulate yourself for recognizing that truly, truly, life does imitate art. People around Broadway do that a lot, sometimes adding, 'Isn't it a shame?'
"The view could hardly dent the spirit of a woman who, not long ago, was told she would never dance again. Nor does it track with Donna McKechnie’s real predicament She is so content that some nights she has trouble summoning the state of anxiety appropriate to a character desperate for a job in the chorus.
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