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Back to Biographies Audra McDonald 
In less than a decade, soprano Audra McDonald has become one of the most recognized talents on the musical stage. On Broadway, she's earned Tony Awards for featured roles in Ragtime (1998), Master Class (1996), and Carousel (1994). The year 1999 proved pivotal for her. It was then that she created the role of Marie Christine in the Lincoln Center Theater world premiere of Sweeney Todd. She also made her Carnegie Hall debut, singing selections from Porgy and Bess with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas in a concert televised internationally and recorded for BMG Classics. It didn't end there: 1999 also saw her perform with the Cleveland Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin, the Philadelphia Orchestra with Marin Alsop, and the Boston Pops with Keith Lockhart (in the nationally broadcast Evening at Pops). She sang at that year's BBC Proms with Simon Rattle and also performed in the Divas at the Donmar series in London, which was broadcast on PBS in the spring of 2002.McDonald has also branched out to television, with acting roles in the CBS movie Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters' First 100 Years; NBC's Law and Order: Special Victims Unit; and the ABC/Walt Disney Television production of Annie. She was also featured in My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies, a PBS broadcast from Carnegie Hall. Her other TV appearances have included the PBS productions Leonard Bernstein's New York and Some Enchanted Evening: A Salute to Oscar Hammerstein, and she was profiled on the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes. McDonald's new solo recording, How Glory Goes, features songs by Harold Arlen, Leonard Bernstein, and Jerome Kern alongside works by today's generation of musical-theater writers. The New York Times named her debut solo recording, Way Back to Paradise, 1998's Adult Record of the Year. Her other recordings include Leonard Bernstein's Wonderful Town; the original soundtrack of Tim Robbins's film The Cradle Will Rock; the original cast recording of Marie Christine; My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies; and Leonard Bernstein's New York. Born into a musical family, McDonald grew up in Fresno, California. She received her classical vocal training at the Juilliard School, graduating in 1993. Photos courtesy of Barron Claiborne. |
