RICK McKAY's "DONNA MURPHY: HIT ME WITH A HOT NOTE" for FRAN LIEBERGALL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONNA MURPHY! One of the great talents of our time, I filmed (awkwardly!) this as a favor to my pal Fran Liebergall when Marvin Hamlisch and a plethora of stars got together and did a benefit for her to help her in her fight against MS. I shot it from the audience, in the middle of the house, hand held from my seat, so please forgive the shakiness. But, Donna is such a tremendous talent and so staggeringly brilliant that I thought this drop-dead rendition of Ellington’s HIT ME WITH A HOT NOTE (backed up on piano by the peerless Mark Hummel, Brian Nalapka on bass and Steve Singer on drums!) should be shared instead of sitting forever in my archives. It is all of 130 seconds - yes 2 minutes - but she growls, scats, croons, shimmies, shakes her tata's, hits insanely high notes, all while looking like a greek goddess, and basically shows that, as usual, there is simply nothing that the girl can't do. If you have seen her on Broadway in PASSION, THE KING & I, WONDERFUL TOWN, EDWIN DROOD or any of the Off-Broadway, Television in MERCY STREET (2016) or HINDSIGHT (2015) or Film in TANGLED (2010) and so much more that she does, you already know how brilliant she is. But, because of her tremendous success in Stephen Sondheim's PASSION, which he created ON Donna, the way a painter creates art inspired by a muse that he paints, many people think she is an uber-serious artiste, which she is - but not everyone realizes that she can sing jazz in a class with Ella - or out-belt Merman - or send high notes out to rival Audra or Barbara Cook. Long may you wave Donna - you inspire everyone who is lucky enough to see or hear you. And you just happen to be brilliant in the third installment of RICK McKAY'S BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE FILM TRILOGY, "BROADWAY: THE NEXT GENERATION" as well - which I couldn't be happier about! Happy Birthday Darlin'! XOXOXO

From Producer/Director Rick McKay and "Broadway: BEYOND the Golden Age" mega-producers Anne Bernstein, Jamie DeRoy, Richard Eric Weigle, Jane Klain, Corey Brunish, Fran Bator, Michael Anastasio, Jack Coco and Celia Castevens.

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