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Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?- Page 3

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

HorseTears Profile Photo
HorseTears
#50Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/25/14 at 6:49pm

I understand that an act of impressive mimicry does not necessarily equal a great acting performance (see the film Ray), but this casting is still a puzzlement for me. It's not like Holiday was some obscure singer with a pleasant, generic jazz/blues voice. She probably had what remains the most distinctive and recognizable sound in jazz/blues vocalists. Who knows, perhaps Audra is a gifted mimic or perhaps they're not even going to try to have her sound anything like the woman she's portraying.

Maybe next we can get Nathan Gunn playing Sinatra, Harolyn Blackwell playing Aretha Franklin and Kathleen Battle as Nina Simone.

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Reginald Tresilian
#51Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/25/14 at 7:16pm

In the original production, neither Lonette McKee nor S. Epatha Merkerson sounded like Holiday, but both gave wonderful, persuasive--and very different--performances.

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Jordan Catalano
#52Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/25/14 at 7:32pm

I don't get to go the many shows nowadays sadly, but this one will DEFINITELY be on my must see list.

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Mr. Nowack
#53Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/25/14 at 9:14pm

Would this apply to the "classics" rule? I thought that was typically only for shows that had gained reputations through regional productions and films and such. This seems somewhat lesser-known than say CINDERELLA or LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS.


Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated

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Kad
#54Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/25/14 at 10:30pm

I think it has less to do with reputation than time that has passed.


"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."

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ACL2006
#55Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/25/14 at 10:53pm

just noticed in the press release it says "a limited, 10-week, 70 shows engagement". That figures to be that Audra is only doing 7 shows a week??


A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.

RippedMan Profile Photo
RippedMan
#56Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 1:10am

Honestly, I'm excited. I don't know anything about the source material or anything, so to me I won't have anything to compare it to. But I'm excited.

It's also a different play, so who cares? One was off-Broadway and one is on Broadway.

HorseTears Profile Photo
HorseTears
#57Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 5:04am

RippedMan, When you say you don't know anything about the source material, you mean that you're not familiar with the play (or musical, if that's what it is), not that you're entirely unfamiliar with Billie Holiday's music, right?

I wonder if "Strange Fruit" will be in the setlist. Whether she sings it anything like Billie or not, I'd love to hear Audra's take on that gorgeous, painful song.

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CarlosAlberto
#58Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 5:42am

I understand that an act of impressive mimicry does not necessarily equal a great acting performance (see the film Ray)

Not too veer this off topic, but since HorseTears *did* bring it up I have to chime in and just say that I respectfully disagree. Mr. Foxx gave am excellent performance and deserved his Oscar.

I am also not understanding why you are so perplexed (?), puzzled (?), bothered (?) by McDonald's casting in this. McDonald may not be the same "type" of singer the Miss Holiday was but she *is* a singer and aside from that a wonderful actress and I am positive she and her director Lonny Price will make this work.

Jessica Lange waa dubbed and physically did not resemble Patsy Cline in the movie "Sweet Dreams" but I'll be damned if she didn't get to the core of who that woman was as an artist and as a person.

Yero my Hero Profile Photo
Yero my Hero
#59Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 9:04am

I wonder if "Strange Fruit" will be in the setlist. Whether she sings it anything like Billie or not, I'd love to hear Audra's take on that gorgeous, painful song.

Once again, I refer you to the Times article, which answers most of the questions people here are asking:

"Ms. McDonald will perform 18 numbers as Holiday, including 'What a Little Moonlight Can Do,' 'Strange Fruit,' 'Taint Nobody's Biz-ness' and 'God Bless the Child' — the last being a song that Ms. McDonald used to perform in high school and at Juilliard."

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/audra-mcdonald-to-return-to-broadway-as-billie-holiday/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1


Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters. ~ Wicked
Everything in life is only for now. ~ Avenue Q
There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last. ~ Rent

"He's a tramp, but I love him."
Updated On: 2/26/14 at 09:04 AM

RW3
#60Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 9:15am

I wonder if it will extend if ticket sales are good and Audra possibly wins her 6th Tony.

HorseTears Profile Photo
HorseTears
#61Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 10:08am

I am also not understanding why you are so perplexed (?), puzzled (?), bothered (?) by McDonald's casting in this. McDonald may not be the same "type" of singer the Miss Holiday was but she *is* a singer and aside from that a wonderful actress and I am positive she and her director Lonny Price will make this work.

Carlos - A tad puzzled, but certainly not bothered. And not because of the perceived quality of Audra's talents--both musical and acting--which I think are unquestionably great. It's just that Billie had perhaps the most unique and distinctive voice out of all the great jazz/blues ladies of the era. It strikes me as a little odd that a, no doubt gifted actress/singer, who sounds nothing like Billie is going to be portraying her and singing nearly 20 of her signature songs. That being said, if I make it to NY again during this run, I'm definitely getting a ticket. The chance to hear Audra sing that material--whether she sounds anything like Billie or not--is something I wouldn't miss.


Yero my Hero- thanks for linking to that NYT article. Sounds like it's going to be a memorable evening of theatre and music.

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best12bars
#62Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 12:39pm

I may be spitting on hallowed ground here, but I think this casting is as wrong as Julie Andrews in the life of Janis Joplin.


"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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givesmevoice
#63Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 12:49pm

I wonder if it will extend if ticket sales are good and Audra possibly wins her 6th Tony.

You mean Cherry Jones' Tony?


When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

PlayItAgain
#64Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 12:57pm

^HA! again Audra has won almost every time she's been on broadway, she is a force of nature.

Musicaldudepeter
#65Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 1:02pm

McDonald's performance will be fresh in voters' minds so she very well may take home her 6th Tony if nominated. While I think that Jones's performance is otherworldly and at the moment unbeatable, she opened a long time ago, so McDonald could easily steal her thunder.

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PalJoey
#66Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 2:01pm



I am incredibly excited about this, and I am a devoted Billie Holiday fan.



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dreaming
#67Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 2:13pm

How do we know which category they'll place her in? (And Tracy Letts won last year for a show that was long closed.)

AC126748 Profile Photo
AC126748
#68Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 2:23pm

I don't think anyone will forget the recent revival of THE GLASS MENAGERIE--of the the most universally adored productions in years--or anyone in its cast any time soon. And a show being open means nothing--ask Julie White or Michele Pawk or anyone involved in Virginia Woolf, which won Best revival,
best actor, and best director last year.


"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

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perfectlymarvelous
#69Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 2:38pm

Audra is indeed a force of nature, but Cherry Jones is also. If they were up against each other it would certainly make for an interesting race since I think that at this point, Cherry Jones should be clearing a space on her mantle for a 3rd Tony. But I feel like with 18 musical numbers it's likely the Tonys will treat it as a musical rather than a play.

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henrikegerman
#70Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 3:14pm

There were 11 songs in End of the Rainbow.

How many songs were in Piaf? If memory serves there were a great many. That didn't stop Jane Lapotaire from getting her much deserved tony for best actress in a play.

givesmevoice Profile Photo
givesmevoice
#71Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 3:24pm

Doesn't it also come down to the purpose the music serves within the framework of the show? 1776, for example, has 13 musical numbers (including one reprise) and a long stretch with no music, but I would consider that a musical without question.


When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

AC126748 Profile Photo
AC126748
#72Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?
Posted: 2/26/14 at 3:52pm

The Tony committee does what it wants. There's no point in using logic or looking at patterns.


"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body


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