Tag: Audra McDonald

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NBC’s “The Sound of Music” gets three Broadway heavy-hitters

According to the Hollywood Reporter, NBC’s upcoming live broadcast of The Sound of Music will feature even more theater star power in addition to previously announced Carrie Underwood (“Maria”) and Stephen Moyer (“Captain Von Trapp”).

Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti and Christian Borle have signed on to play Mother Abbess, Elsa Schrader and Max Dettweiler respectively.

The three-hour production is based on the original 1959 Broadway production of The Sound of Music.

The Sound of Music, produced by Universal TV, is executive produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan. The production will be directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller and Rob Ashford.

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Audra McDonald to host 7 broadcasts of “Live From Lincoln Center”

Winner of five Tony Awards and two Grammy Awards will host seven broadcasts of “Live From Lincoln Center.”

I got to meet Audra during her first Broadway show – Carousel, which was playing at Lincoln Center – and she was as charming and connected as you would wish.

She still is. And damn if she doesn’t make everything look easy. And we all know that it’s not.

You have to be happy for her and everything that comes her way.

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Promo video for new Broadway “Porgy and Bess”

The Gershwins’ PORGY AND BESS officially opened on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (226 West 46th Street).

The cast is led by four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald as ‘Bess,’ Drama Desk nominee Norm Lewis as ‘Porgy’ and two-time Tony nominee David Alan Grier as ‘Sporting Life.’

Audra is brilliant in everything she does – rave reviews all over the place.

And I always love me some Norm Lewis. Go see the show on Broadway.

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NY Times Review For ‘Porgy And Bess’ On Broadway

Poster for the 2012 revival of Porgy and Bess on Broadway
Poster for the 2012 revival of Porgy and Bess on Broadway
(photo via Flickr/rvc845 – CC License)

From the New York Times:

“The hurricane that’s said to be headed for Catfish Row has yet to arrive early in the second act of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, which opened on Thursday night in a new, slimmed-down reincarnation at the Richard Rodgers Theater.

“The climate so far might be described as mostly cloudy and mild, as might this version of the show. But suddenly an elemental force takes possession of the stage, and its tremors course through the audience.”

“That’s the storm raging within a woman who’s tearing herself to pieces before our eyes, fighting with her infernal attraction to a man she knows she should be fleeing. For devastating theatrical impact, it’s hard to imagine any hurricane matching the tempest that is the extraordinary Audra McDonald’s Bess at the moment she is reunited with her former lover, Crown, played by Phillip Boykin. And no matter what they’re calling it these days — a musical, I believe — Porgy and Bess has suddenly risen to its natural heights as towering, emotion-saturated opera.”

“Mr. Norm Lewis, a Broadway veteran (“Sondheim by Sondheim,” “The Little Mermaid”), combines modesty and dignity as the crippled Porgy. His singing voice is supple and smooth, and his “I Got Plenty of Nothing” is rendered with a charming nonchalance.”

Read the entire review at NY Times.

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“Heavy” from Dreamgirls Concert 2001 – Audra McDonald, Lilias White and Heather Headley

The original cast of Dreamgirls was the best Broadway show I ever saw.

This concert in 2001 – also starring Billy Porter (“Jimmy Early”) and Norm Lewis (“Curtis”) – was a fantastic ‘dream cast’ event.

I just found this clip on youtube. All three ladies are fantastic to begin with, and then there’s the terrific material.

Enjoy!

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Porgy and Bess heading to Broadway

A revamped version of George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” starring Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis and David Alan Grier, will go to Broadway soon after it completes its run, previously announced, at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass.

Producers announced on Wednesday that the show — which plays down its roots as an opera and features a reworked book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and new arrangements by Diedre Murray — will open at the Richard Rodgers Theater on Jan. 12, with previews beginning on Dec. 17.

Diane Paulus, the artistic director at the A.R.T., will direct “Porgy and Bess.” Kicking off the company’s season, the show is slated to run from Aug. 17 to Oct. 2, with an opening night on Aug. 31.

The casting of Ms. McDonald as Bess, Mr. Lewis (“Sondheim on Sondheim”) as Porgy, Mr. Grier (“Race”) as Sportin’ Life, and Joshua Henry (“The Scottsboro Boys”) as Jake made clear this was unlikely to be just a short regional run. And the producers, Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel, expressed optimism about Broadway after workshops and a developmental performance for investors in May.

Read more at NYtimes.com