Donna King

Last updated

Donna King
Born1957 (age 6667)
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Dancer
  • singer
  • actress
  • teacher
Years active1977–present
Spouse
(m. 19841994)
Children Jimmy Napes, Jessica Napier

Donna King (born 1957) is an American dancer and musical theatre performer who appeared in Broadway musicals in the 1970s and 1980s and has lived and worked mostly in England since the 1980s.

Contents

She is also an actress and has appeared in theatre as well as on film and television.

Life

Originally from Kansas City, King trained at the Miller Marley School of Dance in Overland Park, Kansas. [1] She worked briefly on a revue in Las Vegas before starting at Studio 54, New York City, on its opening night in 1977. She appeared in the Broadway musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1978), then in Roland Petit's 1981 revival of Can-Can , before originating the part of Bombalurina at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats , [2] [3] which she played from 1982 to 1984. In September 1982, the New York Magazine ran a feature on King, who was pictured as Bombalurina in a window display at Bergdorf Goodman. [4] She played a Shark in the Mediterranean Tour of West Side Story. She was also a lead dancer in the film Grease 2 (1982). [1]

In 1984, King married John Napier, a British theatre designer who had designed the set and costumes for Cats, and they had two children, James (now the musician Jimmy Napes) and Jessica. [2] They were divorced in 1994.

In 1991, Donna King appeared in the lead role of May in a revival of Sam Shepard's Fool for Love at the Timber Street Studios, London.

King had a notable part in Jilly Cooper's The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous (1997). In the opening scene, her tryst with the anti-hero, Lysander Hawkley, is interrupted by her husband, who chases Lysander out of the house naked with a crossbow. [5]

She now has a studio in Camden Town and teaches music, theatre, and film students. [2]

Musical theatre

Films

This list is not complete

Papaya69 (2022) as Amanda (Papaya's mother) Pic Films, Italy

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Alumni: Donna King at millermarley.com, accessed 8 April 2018
  2. 1 2 3 Biography at donnaking II , accessed 7 April 2018
  3. Biography from Cats program, 1982: "DONNA KING (Bombalurina) This K.C. kitty hit Vegas then split fast. Was an original best little whore from Texas a coupla blocks down. Loved playin' a Frenchie in Petit's Can-Can. Hit the celluloid for a Grease 2 slide. Now I'm exquisitely fulfilled just being an enchanted cat. Thanks for coming."
  4. New York Magazine dated 13 Sep 1982, pp. 58—59
  5. Dave Lanning, Sooper-Stud's Flight of Fancy dated June 8, 1997, in The People (London, England) at highbeam.com, accessed 6 April 2018
  6. Dan Dietz, Off Broadway Musicals, 1910–2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows (New York: McFarland, 2012), pp. 43—44
  7. Donna King at playbill.com, accessed 8 April 2018
  8. John Stewart, Broadway Musicals, 1943–2004 (New York: McFarland, 2005, ISBN   978-0786422449), p. 820
  9. The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous at bfi.org.uk, accessed 8 April 2018

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwen Verdon</span> American actress and dancer (1925–2000)

Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and she served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film. Verdon was a critically acclaimed performer on Broadway in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, having originated many roles in musicals, including Lola in Damn Yankees, the title character in Sweet Charity, and Roxie Hart in Chicago.

<i>Mamma Mia!</i> (musical) 1999 musical based on the songs of ABBA

Mamma Mia! is a jukebox musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson based on songs recorded by Swedish group ABBA and composed by members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The title of the musical is taken from the group's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia". Ulvaeus and Andersson were involved in the development of the show from the beginning, while singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad was involved financially in the production and also appeared at many of the premieres around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Tune</span> American actor

Thomas James Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won ten Tony Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutton Foster</span> American actress (born 1975)

Sutton Lenore Foster is an American actress. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical twice, in 2002 for her role as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and in 2011 for her performance as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, a role which she reprised in 2021 for a production in London and for which she received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her other Broadway credits include Grease, Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, Violet, The Music Man, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. On television, Foster played the lead role in the short-lived ABC Family comedy-drama Bunheads from 2012 to 2013. From 2015 to 2021, she starred in the TV Land comedy-drama Younger.

<i>The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas</i> Musical play

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall. It is based on a story by King that was inspired by the real-life Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donna Murphy</span> American actress (born 1959)

Donna Murphy is an American actress, best known for her work in musical theater. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she has twice won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical: for her role as Fosca in Passion (1994–1995) and as Anna Leonowens in The King and I (1996–1997). She was also nominated for her roles as Ruth Sherwood in Wonderful Town (2003), Lotte Lenya in LoveMusik (2007), and Bubbie/Raisel in The People in the Picture (2011).

Jennyanydots is a fictional character from T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. She is also a principal character in the 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats, which is based on Eliot's work. Jennyanydots is a seemingly lazy Jellicle cat who sits around all day, but at night, she becomes very active as she rules the mice and cockroaches, forcing them to undertake helpful functions and creative projects to curb their naturally destructive habits.

Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Mamma Mia!, and Nice Work If You Can Get It.

Wally Harper was an American musical director, composer, conductor, dance arranger, and musical supervisor for many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. For three decades from the mid-1970s, he worked with Barbara Cook as pianist, music director and arranger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillian Lynne</span> English dancer, choreographer (1926–2018)

Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne was an English ballerina, dancer, choreographer, actress, and theatre-television director, noted for her theatre choreography associated with two of the longest-running shows in Broadway history, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. At age 87, she was made a DBE in the 2014 New Year Honours List.

Carol Hall was an American composer and lyricist. She was best known for composing the music and lyrics for the Broadway stage musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Her other works include the Broadway sequel The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public (1994), as well as the Off-Broadway musical To Whom It May Concern.

Mara Davi is an American actress, singer, and dancer; she made her Broadway debut as Maggie Winslow in the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line.

Thomas Joseph "Thommie" Walsh III was an American dancer, choreographer, director, and author.

Emily Skinner, also known as Emily Scott Skinner, is a Tony-nominated American actress and singer. She has played leading roles in 10 Broadway productions including New York, New York, Prince of Broadway, The Cher Show, Side Show, Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, Dinner at Eight, Billy Elliot, as well as the Actor's Fund Broadway concerts of Dreamgirls and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. She has sung on concert stages around the world and on numerous recordings.

Sally Ann Triplett is a British singer and actress. She participated in two editions of the Eurovision Song Contest and West End productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demeter (cat)</span> Character from the musical Cats

Demeter is a main character in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats. The musical is an adaptation of T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, and the character's name is given in the poem "The Naming of Cats". Demeter is a very troubled and skittish female Jellicle cat. The role was originated by Sharon Lee-Hill in the West End in 1981, and by Wendy Edmead on Broadway in 1982. Daniela Norman played this role in the 2019 film adaptation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liliane Montevecchi</span> French-Italian actress and entertainer

Liliane Montevecchi was a French-Italian actress, dancer, and singer.

Lara Teeter is an American dancer, actor, singer, theater director and college professor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Cody</span> American dancer and actress

Jennifer Cody is an American actress and dancer.

<i>The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous</i> (film) 1997 British film

The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous is a 1997 British television film based on Jilly Cooper's 1993 book of the same name in the Rutshire Chronicles series, directed by Robert Knights and produced by Sarah Lawson. The title role of Lysander Hawkley is played by Stephen Billington.