Last year's review ...
Audra McDonald, concert review
At the Performing Arts Center, Purchase College , May 21, 2006
By Gary Chattman
Croton resident Audra McDonald, a past three-time Tony Award winner (for Master Class, Ragtime and Carousel), brought a special concert Saturday night, May
21, 2005 , to the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College.‚The
packed audience was mesmerized by this unique singer/actress/raconteur.
The unique quality of this Self-descripted "white-gay-man-in-the-body-of-a-black-woman" is her bonding with her audience.‚In between sets of songs, she
shares anecdotes of her life, including her memory of her own childhood
as the only African-American child growing up in a white neighborhood. We also hear of Oprah's special conclave of Afro-American Icons, where she was mistaken as a tennis star!‚We hear of her experiences as a wife and mother of a four-year-old; indeed, her opening number about a bass player (like her husband)
titled “Lola” was written by a composer friend, and concludes
with the name of her daughter: Zoë!‚Her tribute to Judy Garland
("The Man Who Got Away") can be likened to her bonding with
the great singers of the past.
One could rant and rave about Ms. McDonald's many accolades, including winning her fourth Tony for 'Raisin in the Sun' in a non-singing part, or her
nomination for an Emmy, or for her various concert performances at
Zankel Hall of Carnegie Hall or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln
Center, of her being the guest soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra,
or her three albums, but her greatest accolade comes from her singing.
For an hour-and-a-half she literally had her audience eating out of her hand with a varied concert, with arrangements of Ted Sperling, her Music
Director.‚She sang a lullaby to parents (!) and "I Won't Mind," an ode to a caretaker mother.‚She sang "I Wanna Get Married," as well as new songs by a work commissioned for her, "The Seven Deadly Sins," She saluted Broadway
"When Did I Fall in Love?") as well as works from new composers, such as Jason Robert Brown and John LaChiusa.
-30-
At the Performing Arts Center, Purchase College , May 21, 2006
By Gary Chattman
Croton resident Audra McDonald, a past three-time Tony Award winner (for Master Class, Ragtime and Carousel), brought a special concert Saturday night, May
21, 2005 , to the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College.‚The
packed audience was mesmerized by this unique singer/actress/raconteur.
The unique quality of this Self-descripted "white-gay-man-in-the-body-of-a-black-woman" is her bonding with her audience.‚In between sets of songs, she
shares anecdotes of her life, including her memory of her own childhood
as the only African-American child growing up in a white neighborhood. We also hear of Oprah's special conclave of Afro-American Icons, where she was mistaken as a tennis star!‚We hear of her experiences as a wife and mother of a four-year-old; indeed, her opening number about a bass player (like her husband)
titled “Lola” was written by a composer friend, and concludes
with the name of her daughter: Zoë!‚Her tribute to Judy Garland
("The Man Who Got Away") can be likened to her bonding with
the great singers of the past.
One could rant and rave about Ms. McDonald's many accolades, including winning her fourth Tony for 'Raisin in the Sun' in a non-singing part, or her
nomination for an Emmy, or for her various concert performances at
Zankel Hall of Carnegie Hall or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln
Center, of her being the guest soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra,
or her three albums, but her greatest accolade comes from her singing.
For an hour-and-a-half she literally had her audience eating out of her hand with a varied concert, with arrangements of Ted Sperling, her Music
Director.‚She sang a lullaby to parents (!) and "I Won't Mind," an ode to a caretaker mother.‚She sang "I Wanna Get Married," as well as new songs by a work commissioned for her, "The Seven Deadly Sins," She saluted Broadway
"When Did I Fall in Love?") as well as works from new composers, such as Jason Robert Brown and John LaChiusa.
-30-
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