McKechnie's "Tick Tock"

[morosco]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 8:07pm

On a site that I won't mention here there is a video of McKechnie dancing COMPANY's Tick Tock. It's from the 1993 concert version. Surely it's based on (or actually is) the original choreography. For me it's not the showstopper I always imagined but the crowd goes absolutley BERSERK.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 8:13pm

I love that song.

I'm very disappointed not to be seeing her in London in Over Here! this year.
Updated On: 3/12/07 at 08:13 PM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 8:25pm

It is THE dance, recreated.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 8:26pm

Oh Man... thanks for letting us know! I call that a showstopper, who has those flexible arms and that flexible neck now a days? They also have Pamela Myers doing Another Hundred People, she is also breathtaking.

[Dark_Angel]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 8:27pm

That was one kick-@ss performance! The music and background vocalists on this number sound like something right out of "Promises, Promises".

But then again I always thought of "Company" and "Promises" as sort of Broadway "cousins".

Updated On: 3/12/07 at 08:27 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 8:27pm

When McKechnie was in her prime dancing "live" it was absolutely magical.
And Bennett knew exactly what to do with her.

I know some find TICK TOCK is not needed in COMPANY but I totally disagree, and was mad they left it out of the current lackluster revival.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 8:42pm

You know, watching the footage of "Side by Side by Side/What Would We Do Without You?" from the same concert, I can't help but feel that the current revival stays a lot closer to the original spirit of that song than I'd imagined at first. The complaints about the choreography seeming too "marching band"-ish seem silly watching that.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 8:43pm

Well in the original, that was the only number like that and Bennett made it special.
The new production has that marching around way too much for my taste.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 8:49pm

Whoa. I'd never seen it before. I mean, seeing it hasn't changed my opinion about its exclusion from the current revival, especially seeing just how 70s it actually is, but it was great to finally see it.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:02pm

She is just wonderful but as someone who didn't see the original production I am having trouble picturing a Broadway dance number in the middle of a bedroom scene. It seems so direct in a show that doesn't make most of the characters say what they are really thinking. Especially the middle with the "I love you. I love you." and then (presumably) Bobby says "I..." It is like underlining capital letters for me. But no question that Donna's dancing is superb, and so is Bennett's use of her talent.

[morosco]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:21pm

I miss Michael Bennett. Can you imagine what other masterpieces he could have created over the years? It's my opinion that the Broadway musical stopped growing once he left us. He would have continued to raise the bar on what a musical can achieve.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:29pm

Man I've wanted to see this for years--I hate how mos tnew productions cut the song...

Now if only I could track down the Ed Sullivan performance of Turkey Lurkey Time (I have 9 videos chock a block full of Sullivan Broadway clips and it's one of the few missing )

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:32pm

I love McKechnie, but the "Tick Tock" number in the original production was close to un-noticeable. It made no impression whatsoever on me.

[morosco]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:41pm

"Now if only I could track down the Ed Sullivan performance of Turkey Lurkey Time"

It's not the Ed Sullivan performance but that site that I won't mention has a performance with the original cast.

[Jellylorum]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:54pm

Thanks for posting this. This is something I've really wanted to see.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:07pm

We don't have dancing stars like this anymore these days.

Throw ANY names you want to at me. ANY names.

We don't have them.

You're seeing Donna recreate a dance she did 23 years prior to this "re-staging." And it's still terrific.

Now... imagine her 23 years before this... And you'll have just a glimpse of the magic.

Updated On: 3/12/07 at 10:07 PM

[jewishboy]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:12pm

How about,
Elizabeth Parkinson, though not a triple threat
Valarie Pettiford and Bebe Neuwirth- the best Fosse dancers we have
(besides for Chita, but even she is getting too old)

[C is for Company]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:16pm

Wow, seeing an original star like that doing it again 23 years later and still looking outrageously good. Reading her autobiography of how urgetnly she fought for that number to remain in Company, as well as the excitement of it on the OBC, causes me to still regret the exclusion of it in this latest revival.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention as I am sure that in a week it won't be there! Here's hoping to a nice life for it on that site.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:16pm

"He would have continued to raise the bar on what a musical can achieve."

I think he would have left Broadway and become director/choreographer to the stars. MTV would have snapped him up to create shows. Madonna, Cher or JLo would have grabbed him to mount their concerts. I really think that more lucrative projects would have lured him away.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:27pm

Donna "acts" with her body. It's in the completely personal way she snaps her head, extends her arm, points her fingers, spins and kicks.

It's NOT like a dancer.

It's like an actress. And that's what separates her from the crowd. This has nothing to do with "how high," "how far," "how long," this has to do with expressing human emotion... COMMUNICATING to an audience through dance. So few can do it to this level.

Chita, Gwen, Donna...

And then there's Michael Bennett, who tailor-made her "suit" to fit. These moves ARE Donna's as much as they are Bennett's. He carefully selected the movements that worked for HER.

And we don't have THAT anymore on Broadway either.

Modern commercial theatre is too concerned with "the franchise," not with people.

What will work in the long run, not what will work for an individual's talents.

We're slowly losing the "people" on Broadway, and turning it into an interchangeable factory. "Dazzle" is still very much alive, but it doesn't have a human face anymore.

And it's oh-so-clear and obvious, when you get the chance to watch a clip like this one.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:34pm

I totally agree with you, just wanted to have a little fun. But, I do think that if Elizabeth Parkinson was given the chance she would be able to do some of McKechnie's numbers excellently. She showed so much emotion in Movin Out that I actually thought I was seeing a complete human being develop right before my eyes (I don’t know how else to say it). I even think she should of pulled an upset and she should have won the Tony that year. Of course the disadvantage everyone has now is that there is no Michael Bennett!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:42pm

"These moves ARE Donna's as much as they are Bennett's."

"Don't pop the head, Cassie"

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:48pm

Wasn't Bennett working on Chess before he died? I would have loved to have seen what he could have done with it, but by its nature it probably still would have been an '80s megamusical. Still, it seems like the original production could've been so much better with him at the helm.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:50pm

You have to remember that Bennett staged all of the numbers in the original COMPANY, so the TICK TOCK number was not so blatent but rather totally fit and added to the overall staging.
It was a "concept" show that preceded what is considered new today.
The show actually belongs in it's own time and the sex was a part of it's time and the Dance reflected that.
The revival is totally devoid of sex and therefore missing an important element.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:51pm

Not to threadjack any Bennett talk, but I need to second Jewishboy in saying the check out the Another Hundred People that montages the CD documentary and the Concert performace. A minute and 10 seconds long applause for that one song: she's incredible.