THEIR FAVORITE THINGS: Drama Desk Winner Donna Lynne Champlin Shares Her Theatregoing Experiences

(Clicking on a name bolded in blue will take readers to that actor or show's entry in the Playbill Vault.)

Cherry Jones in The Heiress


	"My God…the way she flew down those stairs, and then by the end of the play…didn’t. An absolutely heart-stopping performance."

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Elaine Stritch in Elaine Stritch at Liberty


	"Her bravery, her honesty, her sheer human spirit. I laughed the whole first act and wept through the second."

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Derek Jacobi in Breaking the Code


	"Probably one of the best examples of a character’s impediment not overpowering but merely serving to enhance a performance that I’ve ever seen."

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Sharon Washington in The Scottsboro Boys


	"Onstage the whole time and with only one line to speak at the end, her performance was an absolute master class in listening and being present."

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Michele Pawk in Hollywood Arms


	"I had a front-row seat to this brilliant performance. Her authenticity and commitment to the nightly disintegration of this character was transcendent."

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Zoe Caldwell in Master Class


	"When she went into those monologues, the audience was literally transfixed. No one dared to make a sound or move a muscle. We were spellbound.”

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The entire cast and crew of Sleep No More


	"My mind still can’t wrap itself around the depth of the set dressing and story-telling of this production. It’s like being dropped in the middle of a spider web, and then eagerly looking for the spider that will eventually eat you up."

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Colm Wilkinson in Les Miserables


	"I was only 15 at the time, but his 'Bring Him Home' was the moment that I decided 100% to pursue a theatrical career. I wept for hours and hours after seeing this original Broadway production."

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Jessie Mueller in On a Clear Day


	"I have never been more simultaneously in love with and envious of a performance in my life. I left that theatre not knowing whether I wanted to hug her or punch her in the face. God’s honest truth."

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Joe Calarco's R & J


	"If a director’s performance can be counted (and in this case the adaptor as well), Joe Calarco’s 1998 Off-Broadway production of R & J left me literally breathless. I’d never seen anything like it. It blew me away."