The blog is going away but the reviews are not. You can find them here in the online print edition.
Home > ATLarts > Archives > 2008 > March > 31 > Entry
All about Audra
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After just one song, Audra McDonald confessed that she was having a “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” — just like Alexander in the children’s book.
Looking lovely in a long black coat and pants and shimmering lip gloss, the Broadway chanteuse told her Sunday audience at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center that she had been plagued with problems after her Saturday performance in Savannah.
The car that took her from hotel to her plane was late. When she got to the airport, her reservation had vanished from the computer and she had to buy a new ticket. And, worst of all, she recently had her wisdom teeth removed and her “dry sockets” were killing her.
Ouch.
When McDonald wasn’t complaining and sharing anecdotes about her “quick karma” — she says her social faux pas seem to catch up with her quickly — the quadruple Tony Award-winning diva showered her audience with about 75 minutes worth of vintage and contemporary show tunes.
She introduced her Garland-esque interpretation of Harold Arlen’s “The Man That Got Away” by joking that she was a “gay man trapped inside a black woman’s body.” She re-lived the embarassment of choosing Jerome Kern’s “Bill” for a tribute to Bill Cosby, cringing at the lyrics: “He can’t play golf or tennis or polo. Or sing a solo, or row. He isn’t half as handsome as dozens of men that I know.”
And she recalled the time she did a sing-a-long version of “I Could Have Danced All Night” at Carnegie Hall and heard her mother’s lilting soprano above the rest of the crowd.
The Juillard-trained McDonald said her 7-year-old daughter, Zoe, is “a little bit of a chatterbox” and can’t stand the sound of her famous mother’s voice. Exact quote: “Mommy, your singing makes my ears cry.”
The star of Atlanta director Kenny Leon’s “A Raisin in the Sun” invoked her political side by saying, “I’m very excited about the changes that are coming” and then singing Steve Marzullo’s “Some Days,” with text by James Baldwin. (“Some days worry. Some days glad. Some days more than make you mad.”)
“Some Days” was McDonald’s second and last encore. The first was “Ain’t It De Truth,” which she said Lena Horne sang in the film “Cabin in the Sky” while bathing in champagne. (The scene was cut.)
“Really, folks. Life is so short and precious,” McDonald said after the anthem to embracing the moment. “Enjoy it.”
If the dazzling soprano hadn’t mentioned her dental issues, no one would have noticed. She hit her peak with Jason Robert Brown’s masterful storytelling song, “Stars and the Moon,” about a woman who marries for material wealth but is never satisfied.
It all made you wish for the day when the notorious perfectionist is mature and secure enough to shrug off comparisons to Streisand, Garland and Barbara Cook and exult in her own gorgeous instrument.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Theater
Comments