GP: When did you realize that ACL was going to be the runaway hit that it became?

DM:As we developed it in the workshop at the Pub. Then I did feel that it was going to be very artistically successful. Because of what Michael was doing and how he was working on it, and then, in the second workshop to bring Marvin Hamlish in, and Ed Kleban. When we heard the first song, At the Ballet, that’s when I thought, this is going to be so wonderful, so artistically brilliant and so well done. But I don’t think anyone knew at the time how far-reaching it would be, how universal it could be. My fear was that it might be too insular, because Michael was so smart and so good about not explaining everything, not overwriting. He kept it lofty in its own specific world and as a result people were on the edge of their seats. And if they didn’t understand, they were learning as they went. Once the audience started coming in and making their own personal connections, that’s when we started getting the idea that this si going to appeal to the populace because people are personalizing with it; they’re taking their own journey with this material – people who weren’t in show business. Truffaut said “The more personal, the more universal."

GP:What led you to leave the show?

DM:The first time we all left as a group to go to Los Angeles. That was heartbreaking; we left two people behind. Then I came back and then I went to London. Then I hurt my back and I had to leave at that point. It became very difficult because I was going through a divorce, and the combination of my back and not being a friendly place there, I decided to leave, having no idea that I would be given the opportunity to come back ten years later in the same production, in the same part, in the same theater. And that was really great. Joe Papp heard that I had gone with Baayork Lee to Japan and he found out that I was still dancing. The Cassie then got pregnant, she had to leave the show to take a break. I was signed to do eight weeks; I was thrilled. I had the Paris Company and the Tokyo Company under my belt and I felt I was capable again, because for a while I didn’t dance. But then I felt that I could do it. SO I went back: different company, but same theater, same choreography and it was just wonderful to get a chance to reclaim it and to resolve, to not leave on a bad note, because it was a very unhappy leaving the first time. It was unresolved. And to be that much older and to be the actress who can leave the part in the dressing room and not take it away with me; to have matured enough to really have fun with it and then just go out and have dinner afterwards that was the best part. This enabled me to create a memory where I could really say I loved doing it.

GP:Were there any special ACL memories that you’d like to share?

DM:When Michael gave the greatest party, the record-breaking performance. I was in Los Angeles and they flew me in for a week and it was spectacular. That was an incredible event; Michael just did a brilliant job producing it and directing it. They even had to put beams under the stage at the Shubert because it would collapse with four hundred people on it doing the kicks. The best moment was when, the audience had no idea that Michael had choreographed and Tharon Musser had lit the aisles and the balcony so that the dancers could come down at the finale. The audience didn’t know that they were there; they were looking at all three hundred of us on stage. All of a sudden the lights went up on the aisles, all of the balcony aisles and the orchestra aisles and there were the dancers doing this (she gestures) to the dancers on stage. It was one of the most miraculous moments because it was so brilliantly done and executed. It had such an emotional impact. The audience, they were looking around and they couldn’t believe it and then there was a glitch and so we had to do it again so they were thrilled. That was a spectacular week for the show and I think it was the greatest party ever given. Probably the most expensive too, at least in the last twenty years.

The other touching moment for me was to be at the last performance. It was wonderful. Everybody was very emotional but they just did the show and at the end, it was the first time I had seen the whole show all the way through from the audience so at the last moment that effect when the dancers are high kicking and the lights are going down, it was like a double whammy since it was the bittersweet ending of the chorus line as it was going out of focus. But it was also the last time that we would see Michael Bennett’s choreography.

GP:I think the show should be revived; it should still be on Broadway.

DM:I think so too. And Baayork’s the one to do it. She did a production at Paper Mill Playhouse and it was really teriffic.

GP:It should be a part of theater history. It just says so much about the business. It is a part of theater history but you want the younger generations to see it.

DM:Exactly.

GP:How do you stay motivated?

DM:I love what I do and I want to keep doing more of it. I guess it’s the creative drive, to do what I do and keep growing. I’m very much a student still; I study and I keep learning and that’s very exciting. My voice has changed over the years but as opposed to dancing, it’s still growing and filling out and becoming more rich.

GP:Is there a person that inspired you, or continues to inspire you?

DM:I get very inspired by things like the Olympics. To see those people dedicated to excellence. When I see talented people and I go to a show and see people who are really working well. You can tell when someone is making the emotional commitment to their work and when they are really doing it and making you go with them on their story, on their journey. That’s inspiring. That’s food for my soul.

GP:Is there a role that you would like to play that you haven’t played yet?

DM:I was spoiled in the 70s in that I created roles in shows. So that to me is the best, when you can be in that position with the company: with the director, the writer and the choreographer and collaborate, there’s nothing like that. But it’s harder now to collaborate that way. There are a couple of shows that I’m probably too old for now that I always wanted to do. I wanted to do South Pacific; I never did that role, in terms of the great classics. I did Gypsy, all the wonderful shows I’ve done in regional theater, that was very satisfying and gratifying to do. I haven’t done Hello Dolly yet. But I did Madam Rose, A Little Music, two productions; these are show I always wanted to do, when I would see the show years ago. So there are no parts really that I long to do.

GP:Well Donna, we’d like to thank you, this was really wonderful. The fans will be excited to hear from you.

DM: It was my pleasure.