About Me
Donna Lynne Champlin
Finishing the Hat
"While she was appearing as Pirelli in the recent critically-acclaimed revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd on Broadway, musical theatre diva-in-training Donna Lynne Champlin was approached by Ars Nova about doing a night at their up-and-coming 'Broadway Spotlight' series. It took some encouragement from a friend, and, apparently, a few cocktails, but Champlin relented and came up with a brilliant assortment of stories and songs she called Finishing The Hat that garnered rave reviews from the critics and public alike. Thankfully, she brought it back for an encore performance October 1st as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, taping the show in front of a live audience. Whether you want to call it theatre or cabaret (it's the latter, by the way), Finishing The Hat is brilliant and Champlin is a dazzling performer who has only scratched the surface of her amazing, multi-faceted talent.
A born comedienne in the mold of Nancy Walker or Kaye Ballard, with a voice capable of everything from standards to light opera, Champlin got her early break in New York in a concert production of Very Warm for May at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. This lead to Broadway roles in James Joyce's The Dead, By Jeeves, Hollywood Arms and, of course, Sweeney Todd, with stops in Bloomer Girl, My Life With Albertine, First Lady Suite, Meet John Doe and The Flight of the Lawnchair Man from 3hree which Champlin reprised at NYMF in September in its expanded version following a run at Goodspeed.
Her solo-show, accompanied by the versatile Andrew Gerle is an inspired pairing of stories from her personal travails in life and show business with songs from Broadway and the pop world. The gimmick for Finishing The Hat is that Champlin has audience members pick cards out of a top hat, each of which contains the name of a particular story that she and her friends have selected as those worthy of re-telling in her show. A song is then paired up with each story so that each section is in itself a small three-act play or vignette. For example, at this performance, she concluded the show with a story about the worst audition she can't forget (for Broadway's recent revival of Oklahoma) as well as the best audition she can't remember (for the legendary Hal Prince). Both are hysterical.
Champlin's song choices are as smart as her observations about her life are funny. And heartbreaking! To be sure, Champlin's humor is self-deprecating and her storytelling is filled with satirical panache, but in her show, she also opens a window onto her soul that is as riveting in what it reveals about truths that have informed her entire life, as it is about her bravery as a performer. And yet her revelations never feel calculated or exploitative.
An Irish pub song serves as her encore in which she admonishes the young musical theatre aspirants in the audience not to believe stories they may hear about how being on Broadway is just another job and isn't really special. She details her Broadway debut in what's an emotional story about the power of theatre and the magic of performing. It's a story young actors should cherish. And it's a tribute to Champlin that, as the show ended after two hours of sustained laughter, the audience could have stayed all night."
-David Hurst Cabaret Scenes
Reviews for Finishing the Hat
"Why can't all cabaret shows be as wonderful as Donna Lynne Champlin's Finishing the Hat? I can't recall a better one since I attended my first one in 1966. Champlin, who does the show on her off-nights from Sweeney Todd, doesn't just sing songs that let us know who she is; she also tells fascinating stories that range from the hilarious (What was that growth on her gluteus maximus that just wouldn't stop getting bigger?) to the poignant (She's had many difficulties with her daddy). Of course, when you attend the show, you might not hear these stories .. because Champlin likes to wing it. Here's how: She offers her customers a hat full of paper-slips on which a certain word or phrase is written. Whichever one you choose, that inspires the story she'll tell. Don't miss the next time Champlin does Finishing the Hat. And say hello to me, for I know I'll be there again to hear what her other paper-slips will yield."
-Peter Filichia, Theatremania.com
"From hit shows to hopeless romances, Donna Lynne Champlin has been through it all - and learned to laugh (and sing) about it. In "Finishing the Hat," Champlin combines sidesplitting comedy, touching insight, exhilarating music, and audience participation in a madcap mixture that makes each performance a thrill ride. It's a perfect showcase for the
dynamic voice and personality of one of Broadway's most exciting rising stars. Not just another cabaret show, Donna Lynne Champlin's "Finishing the Hat.. is great musical theater, better written (and better-performed) than most shows you'll see this year."
-Tim Dunleavy, BroadwayStars.com
"With the skill of a seasoned physical comic and the wry sense of humor of someone who has been there and back, Donna Lynne Champlin's cabaret tells us of career misadventures, disappointing boyfriends and freakishly odd personal experiences without ever seeming self-indulgent. While she’s most know for her work in musical theatre (even her straight play role in Broadway’s Hollywood Arms featured her vocal prowess)...and oh, yes we do get treated to her piercingly expressive belt and intelligent phrasing, but Finishing The Hat is truly centered on her talents as an engaging storyteller."
-Michael Dale, BroadwayWorld.com
"Effortlessly funny and fearlessly personal. May weird things continue to happen to DLC so that she never runs out of material-- I laughed my ass off..speaking of which, 'Ass Ball' is a must see."
-Marc Kessler, Co-Conceiver of ALTAR BOYZ
