By Brian Scott Lipton . . .
What did you accomplish during the height of the pandemic? Finished a few jigsaw puzzles? Learned to speak a little Italian? Well, Donna McKechnie upped us all, having spent much of the past two years preparing her extraordinary new cabaret act, Take Me to the World: The Songs of Stephen Sondheim, which debuted Thursday May 2 at Feinstein’s/54 Below to a jam-packed and extremely appreciative audience.
While the world has been full of Sondheim-oriented shows for many years — and even more have debuted since his death last November — there was still little doubt this tribute would be extra-special. McKechnie has been associated with Sondheim since the mid-1960s, when she landed the role of the “lovely” Hero in the national tour of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and this loving 75-minute show draws heavily on the pair’s special personal and professional relationship through the last few decades.
Her stories, most of which have not been shared publicly, are almost worth the price of admission, from Angela Lansbury’s reaction to the choreography that McKechnie (who still moves like a dream) created for her at a special tribute concert in the 1990s, to how terrifying it was that “You Can Drive a Person Crazy” got no audience reaction from the first Company audience out-of-town (and how the number got saved), to McKechnie’s touching reunion with Company star Dean Jones more than 20 years after he exited the Broadway production without telling anyone.
But the raison d’etre for the evening are Sondheim’s timeless songs – what the star calls “lyrics to live by” — and McKechnie delves far beyond the repertoire of “I did this one in this show.” True, there’s a special resonance to those numbers to which McKechnie is most deeply connected. She is simply splendid performing four of Sally Plummer’s songs from Follies – a role she played triumphantly at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 1996 — including a plaintive “Too Many Mornings” and a shattering “Losing My Mind.” And McKechnie’s glorious rendition of “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music is so heartbreaking that it calls for some producer to give audiences another chance to see her version of Desiree Armfeldt.
Furthermore, there’s the pure joy of listening to McKechnie explore the breadth of the Sondheim catalog (even if not every song perfectly fits her still-strong belt, coupled with her gorgeous soprano top notes). Highlights include the anthemic “There Won’t Be Trumpets” (from Anyone Can Whistle), the romantic “So Many People” (from Saturday Night) and the breezy “Live Alone and Like It” (from Dick Tracy). And while she’s admittedly far from the right age to play “Bobbie” in the new Broadway version of Company, her version of “Being Alive” would bring the curtain down properly.
Indeed, with so little to be sure in this world, one thing we know for certain is that every time she steps on a stage, Donna McKechnie delivers the goods!
Donna McKechnie: Take Me to the World: The Songs of Stephen Sondheim continues at Feinstein’s/54 Below (254 West 54th Street) through June 4. For tickets and information, visit www.54Below.com.
Photos: Douglas Denoff
