Audra McDonald: Culturus Interruptus

I’m a huge fan of Broadway singer and actress Audra McDonald, who brings passion, nuance, and a peerless soprano voice to every musical role she undertakes. Her long string of Tony Awards recognizes her success in a variety of stage vehicles, everything from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel (where she made theatre history as an African-American Carrie Pipperidge) to Ragtime to Porgy and Bess. She’s been acknowledged for non-singing roles too, notably in a Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansbury’s classic A Raisin in the Sun. I treasure the recordings in which she reveals her sharp timing, her sense of humor, and her affection for the work of new composers, especially women. Now 50, she’s an American treasure.

I’ve several times enjoyed her stage performances. But of course all that’s a thing of the past in this era of COVID-19. We who love live theatre and concerts sadly recognize that it will be a long, long time before we can leave home to get a culture-fix . The Internet, augmented by various technological platforms, can give us an emotional lift by presenting great stars in an up-close-and-personal format. At least, that’s the idea. Unfortunately, just when we’re thinking it’s safe to enjoy ourselves online, technology tends to throw us a curve.

Early in the lockdown, a star-studded live Zoom tribute to Stephen Sondheim had musical theatre buffs counting the minutes to “curtain-time.” (One of many promised treats was McDonald singing a sloshed shelter-in-place version of “The Ladies Who Lunch” with chums Christine Baranski and Meryl Streep.) Alas, grating technical difficulties delayed the opening of the broadcast for at least 45 minutes while we fans lurked around our computers, desperate for the show to start.

Then last weekend I actually paid for a link to an intimate musical tête-à-tête between Audra and pianist Seth Rudetsky , as part of his now-online Seth Concert Series. Rudetsky’s personality may require some getting used to, but he’s a master accompanist, and clearly Audra’s a longtime pal. From their separate homes they performed old songs and new, interspersed with behind-the-scenes stories and easy banter. But . . . midway through the performance (for which I had shelled out $25) of such artful scat as a Streisand-inspired  “Down With Love” medley or a breath-taking ballad like “You Are Your Daddy’s Son” (from Ragtime), the screen would suddenly freeze, leaving me pining for the intricate passage or the last thrilling notes I’d missed. (Happily, the concert organizers gave me a second chance to see the show in its entirety—and it worked!)

As a versatile performer, McDonald has also played a number of film and TV roles, Few, though, have allowed her to sing, and when it comes to meaty parts I’m certain that her African-American heritage has held her back. On the webcast she told a pertinent story dating back to a TV performance of Annie, shot in 1999 as part of The Wonderful World of Disney. She was very pleased to be cast as Grace Farrell, good-hearted secretary to Daddy Warbucks (Victor Garber): she gets rewarded in the last scene with her boss’s proposal of marriage. Then, after the production had wrapped, word came from on high that the marriage proposal would have to go, or risk alienating the Southern markets. The dispirited cast re-assembled on a Saturday (at enormous expense) to re-shoot the scene. Young director Rob Marshall shot one take, quickly and sloppily, and called it a wrap. He knew what he was doing: making it impossible not to choose the original ending. Which—hooray!—proceeded to air with absolutely no furor at all. 

In Living Color: Audra McDonald and Peter Pan

I just had the pleasure of seeing (and hearing) Audra McDonald in concert. In case anyone doesn’t know about her illustrious stage career, McDonald has won a record six Tony awards, for roles in both dramas and musicals. Growing up in workaday Fresno, California, she made the unlikely leap to Juilliard and then Broadway.  As an African-American she has starred in revivals of such classic black works as Porgy and Bess and A Raisin in the Sun. Another of her Tonys was earned for her stunning portrayal of Billie Holliday in an original play, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill.  

But she has also won acclaim (and Tonys) for roles not specifically designed for a black woman. Her first was as the leading lady’s comic sidekick in Carousel, a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical set in a quaint village in 19^th century Maine. It’s a sign of theatrical progress that the concept of colorblind casting has allowed her to star as a Southwest spinster in 110 in the Shade, a musical adaptation of The Rainmaker, which starred Geraldine Page on the stage and Katharine Hepburn onscreen.

When you’re a talent like Audra McDonald, you can expect to appear in television and films too.  But we’re long past the golden age of movie musicals, so her film roles have been limited. On TV she’s mostly been confined to medical and crime dramas in which she doesn’t sing a note. An appearance as an ob/gyn on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy evolved into seven years as Dr. Naomi Bennett on the spin-off series, Private Practice. (Once, shamefully, black actresses were confined to playing maids. Now they seem to be stereotyped as physicians and judges.)

It’s true that McDonald has occasionally aired her musical abilities on television. Her very first TV appearance, in 1999, was in a TV version of Annie, the one with Victor Garber as Daddy Warbucks and Kathy Bates as nasty Miss Hannigan. (Audra had the rather pallid role of Warbucks’ everlovin’ secretary, Grace Farrell.) And in 2013 she played yet another improbable musical role. The other evening at Disney Hall, she ended her concert with a stirring song from a musical in which she had NEVER expected to appear. The song was “Climb Every Mountain,” from The Sound of Music. Though I doubt there were many black nuns in pre-World War II Austria, McDonald was cast as the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music Live!, the Carrie Underwood TV special that earned both cheers and jeers. I understand the feelings of the hate-watchers, but a production in which McDonald’s lovely soprano soars can’t be all bad.

Though I didn’t see The Sound of Music Live! I looked in on its follow-up, Peter Pan Live!, which I found competent, earnest, and just a bit dull. Quick assessment: the sets were spectacular. The choreography was impressive. The musical score by old pros Jule Styne, Carolyn Leigh, and Comden & Green still worked its magic, though the additional songs added for this production were mostly yawners. As Peter, Allison Williams (of Girls) was better than I had expected. As Peter’s nemesis, Captain Hook, the legendary Christopher Walken was worse than I had expected, sleepwalking his way through a role I had thought he would knock out of the park. Clapping children still ensured that Tinkerbell didn’t die. (At least I guess they were clapping, because the feisty little fairy lived to flit another day.)

I could never diss a project that aims to teach today’s audiences to love musical theatre. Maybe casting Audra McDonald would have made all the difference.