Donna McKechnie - 2012 BTP Guest Artist

Donna McKechnie is regarded internationally as one of Broadway's foremost dancing and singing stars.   Her bravura performance as Cassie in the groundbreaking Broadway musical, A Chorus Line, won her the 1976 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Her career has taken her through many of the most successful and legendary Broadway musicals of all time including How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, On The Town, Promises, Promises,Company, and Sondheim–A Musical Tribute, as well as State Fair, for which she received the Fred Astaire Award for Best Female Dancer for the 1995-1996 season.  She has also starred in dozens of regional theatre productions including Cole Porter's You Never Know at the Pasadena Playhouse, I Do! I Do!, Misalliance, The Goodbye Girl and Gypsy, and enjoyed one of her greatest triumphs in the role of Sally in the Paper Mill Playhouse’s acclaimed 1998 revival of Follies.

Donna also has the distinction of playing the lead in Bob Fosse's last production, a national tour of Sweet Charity, for which she was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award, and in 2002 she was nominated for The Los Angeles Theater Alliance League’s Ovation Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Mack and Mabel.  She also choreographed and performed in No Way To Treat A Lady at the Arts Theatre in London, after having starred only a few seasons prior in the West End production of Cole Porter's Can-Can at the Strand Theatre.

Donna has performed extensively on the concert stage, in cabaret and with symphony orchestras, including her award-winning cabaret show, My Musical Comedy Life, and her autobiographical shows, Inside The Music and Gypsy In My Soul.   She also has the distinction of being a performer of opera when she made her debut as a guest star in the San Francisco Opera's 1996 production ofDie Fledermaus.  She has also appeared on the big screen as The Rose in the motion picture, The Little Prince, and has guest starred on several classic television series including Fame, Cheers and Family Ties, as well as on numerous musical specials.

In addition to her having made Broadway history several times over, Donna was also a part of television history: she was a regular cast member on 40 episodes of the legendary cult classic series Dark Shadows.