McKechnie's "Tick Tock"

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 )

"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.

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

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.

---

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.

---

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

"Don't pop the head, Cassie"

---

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.