By Adam Hetrick
12 Nov 2008

Obie-winning actress Donna Lynne Champlin, who is currently appearing in the Transport Group production of Bury the Dead Off-Broadway, will offer her solo show Finishing the Hat at Rochester's Black Friars Theatre.

Presented on Nov. 29 and 30, Finishing the Hat allows audience members to select Champlin's song line-up from composers such as Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Noel Coward, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Kander and Ebb, Randy Newman, David Shire and many more. Andy Pratt accompanies Champlin on piano.

Finishing the Hat is described as "a funny personal memoir from a Broadway veteran who reminisces on her personal experiences with relationships, family, dating in NYC, not to mention the likes of Hal Prince, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Carol Burnett, Linda Lavin, Marni Nixon, Rita Moreno, Alan Ayckbourn – the list goes on and on…"

The performances will benefit Black Friars' new theatre fund.

Champlin was recently seen by Rochester audiences as Jane Austen in the Lindsay Warren Baker and Amanda Jacobs musical Pride and Prejudice. Champlin has appeared on Broadway in Sweeney Todd, Hollywood Arms, By Jeeves and James Joyce's The Dead. Her stage credits also include The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Marcy in the Galaxy, My Life With Albertine, Reunion, Encores! Bloomer Girl, First Lady Suite, The Audience and Meet John Doe.

Tickets to Finishing the Hat, priced $25, are available by phoning (585) 454-1260. The Black Friars Theatre is located at 28 Lawn Street in Rochester, NY.