Singer Audra Ann McDonald performs at the annual ARTS by George! benefit on Saturday, Sept. 28.
The high point of the ARTS by George! benefit at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 28, is American actress and singer Audra Ann McDonald. Primarily known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor/actress, and is the only person to win all four acting categories. She has performed in musicals, operas, and dramas such as A Moon for the Misbegotten, 110 in the Shade, Carousel, Ragtime, Master Class, and Porgy and Bess. But --
DID YOU KNOW . . . McDonald’s record-setting six Tonys is more than any other performer in history? She is also the award's first grand-slam artist, winning in all individual performance categories. She won the Tony for Featured Actress in a Musical twice, for Carousel and Ragtime. She won the Tony for Featured Actress in a Play twice, for Master Class and A Raisin in the Sun. She won her fifth Tony for Leading Actress in a Musical with Porgy and Bess, and won her sixth Tony on June 2014 for Leading Actress in a Play, with Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, where she portrays jazz vocalist Billie Holiday (AKA Lady Day). A broadcast of her performance later aired on HBO.
DID YOU KNOW . . . Audra McDonald was born on July 3, 1970 in West Berlin, Germany, because her family was stationed there as part of her dad’s military work? They eventually moved back to the states, settling in Fresno, California. McDonald came from a thoroughly musical clan, with both of her parents being musicians and her aunts forming a touring gospel group during the 1970s known as The McDonald Sisters. The young McDonald took to performing during her elementary school years, doing local theater work along with her sister Alison. Audra eventually attended a performing arts high school and went on to Juilliard in New York City, graduating in 1993.
DID YOU KNOW . . . McDonald was highly ambivalent about her time at Juilliard due to being pushed in a classical direction when she felt more at home with contemporary works? This cast doubt on her completing her work at Juilliard, but she persevered and eventually got her big break while in school when she joined the Broadway cast of The Secret Garden as part of the chorus, going on to tour with the production. She was later part of the original cast for the 1994 revival of Carousel, playing Carrie Pipperidge.
DID YOU KNOW . . . As a classical soprano, she has performed in staged operas with the Houston Grand Opera and the Los Angeles Opera, and in concerts with symphony orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic? In 2008 her recording of Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany with the Los Angeles Opera won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Album and the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.
DID YOU KNOW . . . McDonald is known for defying racial typecasting? Her performances as Carrie Pipperidge in Nicholas Hytner’s 1996 revival of Carousel and Lizzie Curry in Lonny Price's 2007 revival of 110 in the Shade made her the first black woman to portray those (traditionally white) roles in a major Broadway production. In 2013, McDonald performed the role of Mother Superior in The Sound of Music Live! opposite Carrie Underwood as Maria. She has twice been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her performance of Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun in 2008 and portrayal of Susie Monahan in Wit opposite Emma Thompson in 2001.
DID YOU KNOW . . . McDonald was married to musician Peter Donovan from 2002 to 2009? They have a daughter, Zoe. After her divorce from Donovan, in 2012 McDonald married fellow actor Will Swenson. They have a daughter named Sally. Swenson is best known for his work in musical theatre, having appeared on Broadway in Lestat, 110 in the Shade, and Brooklyn.
DID YOU KNOW . . . Will Swenson is the grandson of playwright Nathan Hale and actress Ruth Hale? He was born in Utah and moved throughout the United States during his childhood. Ruth and Nathan Hale and their extended family opened a number of theaters featuring stages where the audience is on all sides (theater in the round) throughout Utah and Arizona. Audra McDonald and Swenson reprised their roles in a two-week fundraising production of 110 in the Shade at the Hale Center Theater in Orem, Utah.