Live with Carnegie Hall: Audra McDonald

Carnegie Hall continues their series of daytime live streaming events on Thursday, July 23rd, with six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald. Live with Carnegie Hall: Audra McDonald will take place at 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT on Carnegie Hall’s website.

McDonald made her solo concert debut at Carnegie Hall in 2002. She has subsequently performed as a solo artist there in 2004, 2006, 2011 and 2015.

Of course, most people know her from her Broadway career. She made her Broadway debut in the musical The Secret Garden. That was a minor stop before her career hit the fast lane with her performance in the 1994 revival of Carousel. She won her first Tony Award (for Best Featured Actress in a Musical) for her performance as Carrie Pipperidge.

Look at how nervous she was at her first Tony Awards ceremony:

That was followed by Terrence McNally’s Master Class and the musical Ragtime. She received Tony Awards as Best Featured Actress in both those shows.

A dry patch soon set in where she only received a Tony nomination for the musical Marie Christine. Her next Broadway show was a Lincoln Center production of Shakespeare’s Henry IV.

Things starting looking up again when McDonald received her fourth Tony Award for her performance as Ruth Younger in the 2004 revival of A Raisin in the Sun.

The 2007 revival of the musical 110 in the Shade yielded another nomination. When she starred as Bess in 2012 revival of The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, she received her fifth Tony Award (for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical).

Her most recent nomination (and also her most recent win) was for her performance as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. With this sixth Tony Award she not only become the most awarded actress in Tony Award history, she now has won at least one Tony Award in all four categories for an actress.

On the big screen she’s been seen in such films as Hello, Again, Beauty and the Beast, Ricki and the Flash and Cradle Will Rock. Her small-screen credits include The Good Fight, The Good Wife and Private Practice.

She’s received one Emmy Award and two Grammy Awards (both Grammys for her performance in Los Angeles Opera’s production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.)

In her spare time (and when live performances were happening), she has appeared in concerts in just about every major performance venue. She has also released six solo recordings.

To boot she’s long been active in social issues including homelessness, LGBTQ rights and more.

All of this well-documented and perhaps perfunctory information is just a way of saying this should be a truly fascinating 60-75 minutes.

Joining McDonald for Live with Carnegie Hall: Audra McDonald will be Andy Einhorn on piano and serving as music director. Mo Rocca (CBS Sunday Morning correspondent) will be the moderator.

If you cannot watch this event live, Carnegie Hall archives these events for later viewing at your convenience.

Photo of Audra McDonald courtesy of her Facebook page.