The only knowledge I had of a master class was
the play "Master Class" by Terrence McNally which was a fictionalized
account of Maria Callas giving a class for young adults which I had seen
years ago. I googled the definition of Master Class and it was defined
as 'a class given to talented students by an expert.'

We
arrived at the Plaza theatre about 15 minutes before the announced
starting time. I was concerned that we wouldn't get decent seats though
it is a small theatre, seating 250, so any seat is a good seat. I did
get to meet Karen Carisle, the Director of Marketing for the new
theatre, who had been very helpful to me getting the seats for the class
and the show.

We
entered the theatre and to my surprise there were only about 25 people.
We were able to take seats in the second row on the aisle. At 1 PM
sharp, with about 15 more people in the auditorium, Donna McKechnie and
her Musical Director and accompanist, Alex Rybeck, came from behind the
curtain with the latter taking his seat at the piano and Ms. McKechnie
came center stage. She started by explaining that this wasn't a
performance and rule number 1 was 'no applause' and that would be a hard
rule to follow and she proved to be right.

Ms
McKechnie sat in the first row as students from the Dreyfoos School of
the Arts, 15 and 16 year olds, came forward individually and would do a
brief 'rehearsal' with Mr. Rybeck and then sing for Ms. McKechnie. For
those who were prepared she let them sing through and then start giving
them constructive criticism and then have them sing some more. She was
positive, kind, helpful and giving to each student. There was a 10 year
old girl who wanted to sing and came down to the stage. Ms. McKechnie
said that she had never worked with someone so young in a class and
added that she had worked with kids in shows. She showed the 10 year old
the same respect she showed all the other students.

The
teenagers sang Broadway show tunes including "Adelaide's Lament" from
"Guys and Dolls", "All I Need Is Love" from "Chicago", "Anything Goes"
from the show of the same name and "Popular" from "Wicked" among others.
Whether the songs were appropriate for the singer and/or their age Ms
McKechnie worked with the singer of different approaches and how
important that was to know.

 (That's Donna Mc. in the middle with her back to the camera in the black dress)

Nearing
3 PM, when the class was scheduled to end, there were still about 3-4
more kids to be heard, though it looked as if 2 of them had added
themselves to the list, and Ms. McKechnie said they would hold a 'hit
parade' which meant they would come up on stage and sing one after the
other. One of them reminded me of Barbara Cook's soprano but due to time
restrictions didn't have one on one though Ms McKechnie did comment on
her sweet voice.

Alex
Rybeck was not only very helpful accompanying the kids but every once
in awhile he would add an insightful comment to what Ms. McKechnie was
talking about. They were both cool and calm in spite of the fact that
the students, who should know better at this point, gave Rybeck sheet
music with a page missing or glued togather or the wrong music for the
song they wanyed to sing.

After
the class Donna McKechnie took the time to talk to everyone who wanted
to talk to her and I just couldn't bring myself to talk about "A Chorus
Line" because that is all anyone talked about to her so I mentioned
seeing her in "Promises, Promises", 43 years ago this month during a
snowstorm in New York City. And no, I won't tell you what I said to get
that reaction from her!

Donna
McKechnie said that she teaches a class at HB studios in NYC and from
what I saw I think anyone who attends her class are in for some positive
learning.

It
did surprise/disappoint me that with her two shows sold out, and the
ticket price including the master class, that only 40 people out of a
possible 500  came to observe a legend of the Broadway theatre teaching
others what she knows.

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