Donna Lynne Champlin Returns to Ars Nova for Encore Performance 6/4

Sweeney Todd's Donna Lynne Champlin, who played her first gig at Ars Nova on May 8, will return to the theater for a June 4 encore performance.

In Champlin's laugh-filled show, she utilizes a hat filled with tons of stories. Audience members pick stories randomly from the hat and Champlin tells the selected ones, complete with accompanying song. Musical direction is by Andrew Gerle. At the last performance, story topics included her stalking of Brian d'Arcy James and how she humiliated herself in front of Hal Prince.

"By the time I got down to the greenroom after my last show, an Ars Nova producer was already down there asking me to come back and finish the stories," Champlin said. "So we decided to call it Finishing the Hat. It won't be boring for those people coming back because, other than one, it will be all new stories in the hat."

Champlin currently plays Pirelli in the acclaimed Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd. She is probably best known for playing the older Helen, a character based on Carol Burnett, in Hollywood Arms. She has also appeared on Broadway in James Joyce's The Dead and By Jeeves. Her off-Broadway credits include Reunion, Stars in Your Eyes, the Encores! mounting of Bloomer Girl, My Life With Albertine, First Lady Suite and The Audience.

All tickets for Finishing the Hat at Ars Nova are $15. Please call 212 868-4444 to purchase tickets.