Audra McDonald Appreciation Thread (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

Over in the movies forum, the thread for Spielberg's West Side Story remake has drifted away from that into an appreciation for Audra McDonald. Which Audra totally deserves, but since she doesn't have anything to do with that movie, I thought I would create her own thread over here so we can continue this discussion in an on-topic fashion.

As I mentioned there, I had the opportunity to see Audra in concert in March, which was one of the most glorious evenings of singing I've ever had the privilege of hearing. Not only were her vocals sublime, but she really ACTED the songs, too, and it was immediately clear why she has six (!!!!!!) Tonys. She was such an engaging presence onstage, and her stories between songs really built a rapport with the audience which performers can sometimes struggle to do, but she didn't, making it all feel very genuine and natural.

Then I met her afterwards, when she was super-nice and signed my Playbill of Porgy & Bess and my Blu-ray artwork for Beauty and the Beast. A couple months later, she did a similar concert in New York with the New York Philharmonic, featuring many of the same songs, and that was released as an album, Sing Happy. It's a fantastic collection of songs, including several lesser-known theatre songs, and I highly reccomend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Audra-...446&sr=1-1&keywords=sing+happy+audra+mcdonald

 

[KPmusmag]

I have been enjoying Sing Happy since release day. By pure chance I was lucky enough to see Audra's final performance in Ragtime on Broadway. Brian Stokes Mitchell gave her a lovely send-off and there wasn't a dry eye on stage - or in the house. She was also the best thing in the recent TV broadcast of The Sound of Music. Her rendition of Climb Ev'ry Mountain is my new old favorite.

 

[bujaki]

I saw Audra perform live in concert once in Dallas and once again in Fort Worth. I also saw her perform two one-act operas for solo performers in Houston: one was written for her, and the other was Poulenc's The Human Voice, a veritable tour-de-force.
Audra is a force of nature.