A Very McKechnie Xmas: Five Versions of 'Turkey Lurkey Time'

There's no denying it now: the bloody holidays are upon us. And so we're reviving LeFag's big gay Xmas funtimes page with this compendium concerning a famous Broadway number that should get you in the spirit of the season. For the non-showmos out there, some explanation: This is 'Turkey Lurkey Time,' the bizarre closing number of Act 1 of Promises, Promises (which is itself the 1968 musical adaptation of the 1960 movie The Apartment) which has become beloved by fags and musical theater majors the world over because it's so bad it's good. The premise is this: an office Christmas party, and three secretaries who've had too much punch jump out in the middle of the room and do a crazy choreographed dance number to a song about turkeys. The center dancer in the original Broadway cast (see below) was Donna McKechnie, who would go on to star in Company and, later, as Cassie in A Chorus Line. According to Broadway expert Seth Rudetsky (also see his take on the number below) everyone besides Donna had to see chiropractors every week while doing this show because of all that head-whipping. 

But first, please appreciate these three gays from the Act III Theater Ensemble doing their very faithful version of the number. Then, the original, then Seth's analysis, then the newest version from the revival currently on Broadway, which really only tries to duplicate the magic of the original, and then the 2003 version from Camp.