Who is Amanda Harris ?

"Don't I know you from somewhere?"
-Nial Kent
"A Divided Path"
as referenced about
a dramatic play of the same name

It was October 9, 2006 and the place was Madison Square Garden, New York City. The excited whispers and exclamations were all about Barbra Streisand doing a rare on-stage appearance via her tour with Il Divo.

Before the show there was a loud, uniform gasp from the audience because Oprah Winfrey had just arrived in a long red gown. One would think the Queen of England had just arrived.
Barbra sang like a songbird. It was no surprise that the night would be entertaining.
Alan and I were there with friends in very good center (to-the-right side) seats. It was intermission and Alan and I took a walk for refreshments when we saw “her”.
“Alan! That’s Amanda Harris…look!”
“You’re right…it is!”
“Amanda!” Alan shouted.
“Yell it again, she didn’t hear, I know it’s her.”
“Amanda!” Alan shouted loudly.
She turned her head as if it were a scene from Cinderella to look at us. She smile and (I think) gave a slight awareness wave of her hand. We were star-struck and no one could understand but us.

Amanda Harris is a character in the 1966-1971 Gothic TV soap-opera show known as Dark Shadows. The character, Amanda Harris, was in several episodes playing an alluring woman with a mysterious past during the 1897 time period. She also played Olivia Corey in the present day 20th Century of 1969. We had been watching the Dark Shadows DVD collection, so ‘Amanda Harris’ was fresh on our minds. She surely thought we were crazed fanatics but it was “Amanda Harris”!

Amanda Harris is actually known as the fabulous Donna McKechnie. We learned more about her after another chance meeting.

It was 4th of July 2009 (this MONTH!) when Alan and I were invited to our friends' home (Lynn) that has views of the fireworks on the Hudson River side of New York City. It was a small gathering of a handful of friends.

In walks a woman that I recognize from somewhere. I am with Lynn when this lovely guest is introduced to me on the outside balcony overlooking New York City.
“She played Cassie in “Chorus Line”,” said Lynn excitedly.
“Oh, wow! And I thought you were Amanda Harris,” I said.
Donna giggled with a slightly surprised look on her face.
The views were mesmerizing as we continued to chat about the beauty of the skyscrapers and Central Park. Alan walks onto the balcony and I introduce him to Donna as the ‘actress who played Cassie’.
“I actually thought you were another actress I remembered from Dark Shadows named Amanda Harris,” I said.
“I am,” Donna answered.
“Oh my God, it is you,” I said in amazement.
Alan began to realize that Donna was the Amanda Harris we knew from Dark Shadows. He went on to remind her about the 2006 Barbra Streisand concert and how he yelled out her name. Ironically, she recalled the strangeness of that moment, too. We laughed hysterically. What a great ‘reunion’ of sorts.

Donna McKechnie won a TONY Award for Best-Actress in the musical Chorus Line. She is an amazingly talented dancer, singer and actress. CLICK on either of these links for more insight on her history:
http://www.collinwood.net/cast/mckechnie.htm
OR here at the BARNABAS & CO. website:http://www.darkshadowsonline.com/where-mckechnie.html
The fantastic sounds of her music are available on her ‘Inside the Music’ CD.

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Music-Donna-McKechnie/dp/B000065UNA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1248212678&sr=8-3

Donna is the choreographer for a Guys & Dolls In-Concert performance that will be appearing at “The Hollywood Bowl” on July 31; August 1st and 2nd, 2009. We hope to make it to one of the shows to honor her with more good cheer.

Twenty-five years ago today:

July 24, 1984
Tuesday

I mentioned to Barbara Reynolds about Nici stopping by my house late Friday night. I did not give her any further details. Barbara influenced me to pass on attending the section party on Friday night in San Bruno (the one Karyn Kossoff had invited me to attend). I think she is right. Why start something that I know will lead to nothing. Karyn is not really my type now (or is she?). She is so sweet and seems so wise. She smokes sometimes though (ugh!). Whatever happened to Katie Jones? She is the one I met in Concord who never called me back. I like what Barbara said about her.
“Well, she just wasn’t for you,” Barbara so succinctly pointed out.

At lunchtime, Barbara wanted to nap or meditate (or whatever), so I was on my own. I had to fend for myself this afternoon.

I decided to walk over to the BART station to buy a ticket. I decided to stop and talk to Bruce at his workplace. I checked out his store (Topps & Trowsers) for a while and kept the visit brief.

I ate some pizza on Powell Street at BLONDIES and saw some ‘humdinger’ type people. There were some strange ones out today! A lot of them kind of looked at me. Did I attract their eye or did they see me as an alien, too? The pizza cook at BLONDIES kept staring at me. What was that about? I got my share of double-takes today.

Training has been easy thus far.

I rode my bike a while and ate BBQ baked chicken at mom’s house. I came home and turned in for bed earlier than usual. I was just plain tired I guess. I must be mentally drained from all of the new information I am learning at work. At least I washed my car before I went bicycling. That was a good feeling of accomplishment.