Recording of Audra with NY Philharmonic on YouTube

She can do no wrong! Can you elaborate on more of her setlist? Dying to know what else will be included in the recording!

In the past 50 years, I have seen many concerts on Broadway -- Judy G, Liza M, Bette M, Diana Ross, Shirley MacLaine, Hugh Jackman, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, Debbie Reynolds, Patti Lupone; living in Sarasota now, I have seen Audra twice in the past two years, Kristen Chenoweth, Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin, and others. I mention those because I am not sure that I have ever enjoyed any as much as the MacDonald shows (and there were some incredible shows). She may not generate the audience fervor (at least in Sarasota) that some of the above did; but in terms of putting on a great show in which the star at the center is so talented, has such entertaining and personal anecdotes threaded throughout the show, and seems so normal, she is peerless.

When I saw her in March, we attended with four people who had never seen her perform live, two of whom had never even heard of her(!). All were as impressed as we were (although we knew it was going to be a great concert). One (from the 'new er heard of her' camp went on-line the next day and purchased tickets for a (since performed) concert at Boston's Symphony Hall.

When I left the show, I remembered wondering whether there was anything that she couldn't do, and with so much class and modesty.

PS -- I really enjoyed the Chenoweth show, although I got a little tired of her referring to her strong Christian upbringing -- I didn't care. I also found it sorta comical that she was wearing an outfit that must have depended on major double-sided tape to keep things in place, while repeatedly returning to her strong Christian upbringing...seemed s little silly.

I have to confess that I didn’t know quite a few of her songs. This was partly due to my ignorance and partly because, as Audra explained at the beginning, her approach to this concert was to sing songs that she had never sung before, and many were from not well known sources.

Audra opened with “I Am What I Am” and “It Might As Well Be Spring.” She reached back into the early sixties for two songs. “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have,” I believe, from On a Clear Day. (She then played with the audience, addressing us “And that song was written by Lerner and ?” “Loewe” came back from many but it was Lerner and Lane. Burton Lane. “And the lead female was ?” Barbra came back from many, but Streisand had played the role in the film. Barbara Mason in the musical.) I hope they preserve the audience interplay on the album.

She also sang “Some Little Things” from 110 in the Shade. Her last number that she said she took personally to heart was “Make Someone Happy.” Her encore I’m sure was known to everyone in the audience except me.

A curiosity was a song written by Benny Goodman and I think Duke Ellington that had never before had lyrics. Ella had just sung the song scat. Audra demonstrated what Ella had done. But a colleague whom she had met at MIT had actually put lyrics to the song. Very intricate lyrics that flowed very quickly. About halfway through she stopped, saying that she had blown the lyrics. I think this was intentional to set up the nice moment that followed. As she picked up the song again she gave a wide gesture to the audience, “Come on, everyone. Sing along with me. Join in!”

Very pleased to hear that there will be an album.

Kristin is pretty selective about which tenets of her religion that she chooses to follow, but she has a good heart. After seeing her more than once in the revival of On The Twentieth Century there is no denying her talent and spunk.

Wow. I had to go to Youtube to check that out. Shuffle Along. A huge hit for 1921 Broadway. Launched the careers of Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson, among others. Any more Audra on Broadway, can’t miss it.

Just saw her tonight with the KC Symphony here in Kansas City. She was beyond great. I have seen her numerous times before but tonight was just next level brilliance. Agree with others - go see her if she is coming to your city!

Thank you for your wonderful report, OlBlueEyes! Can't wait for this album.

BTW, it was Barbara Harris in the original On a Clear Day. :)

Going in June to see her in Ft. Lauderdale. Yaaaaaaaas!

I found the track listing for the live album coming out tomorrow. What an eclectic mix of songs-I love it!

1. I AM WHAT I AM [La Cage aux Folles]

2. Medley: IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING [State Fair]/HURRY, IT'S LOVELY UP HERE [On a Clear Day You Can See Forever]

3. CORNET MAN [Funny Girl]

4. SING HAPPY [Flora the Red Menace]

5. SIMPLE LITTLE THINGS [110 in the Shade]

6. Introduction to Being Good Isn't Good Enough

7. BEING GOOD ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH [Hallelujah, Baby!]

8. SUMMERTIME [Porgy and Bess]

9. CHAIN OF LOVE [The Grass Harp]

10. VANILLA ICE CREAM [She Loves Me]

11. MARCH IS A WINDY MONTH [Millions]

12. Introduction to Medley

13. Medley: CHILDREN WILL LISTEN [Into the Woods]/ YOU'VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT [South Pacific]

14. FACEBOOK SONG

15. NEVER WILL I MARRY [Greenwillow]

16. BEING ALIVE [Company]

17. Introduction to Make Someone Happy

18. MAKE SOMEONE HAPPY [Do Re Mi]

19. Introduction to Climb Ev'ry Mountain

20. CLIMB EV'RY MOUNTAIN [The Sound of Music]

21. MORE I CANNOT WISH YOU

It is indeed! She is premiering it I believe. SO EXCITED as I love his work.

I'm hoping I wasn't the only BWW poster at Audra's LA concert yesterday at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. My husband and I went with a longtime friend who's loved Bway musicals all his life but had never seen Audra in person. Nevertheless, with a packed house full of highly vocal fans, gay and otherwise, (is this what Judy's hallowed concerts at the Palace were like?), Audra was certainly preaching to the choir.

Her set list was similar to what Jshan posted above, although she replaced "March is a Windy Month" with "I Won't Mind", a song I've always loved from her first album, How Glory Goes. She also included the superb "Stars and the Moon" (I Met a Man...)-- which in fact was the ONLY lyric she went up on in the entire 2 hour concert. She launched into the first line of the song and immediately stopped her music conductor--realizing she'd started with the second stanza instead of the first. Ever the pro, she began again, performed the song letter-perfect magnificently, and made us love her even more.

Perversely, one addition to the setlist yesterday seemed really out of place. She joked that the cognoscenti would rescind her soprano card if she didn't include "I Could Have Danced All Night" in the concert. Given the MFL revival on Bway right now, the choice felt really tone deaf, particularly since Audra's mature voice with its deep rubato was all wrong for the crystalline flights of the song. Even Audra seemed to realize how awkward the fit was-- halfway through she invited the whole audience to sing along (which gave each of us boasting rights to say we sang backup to Audra MacDonald).

One more change to the setlist-- her final encore number wasn't "More I Cannot Wish You", but instead a benediction of love on the audience and a wish to spread love as a way of surviving the insanity in the world today (the closest she came to recognizing the chaos of the Trump administration), which segued beautifully into a sublime "Over the Rainbow". The lady knows her audience awfully well.

Someone in a Tree2 said: "I'm hoping I wasn't the only BWW poster at Audra's LA concert yesterday at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion"

I was there too! I've seen her perform before and found myself thinking what an amazing gift she is to all of us. The voice, the compassion, the inner and outer beauty. I adore her and when she said she was heading to Phoenix next, I seriously tried to figure out how long it would take to get there!

I loved every moment and every song, her humor and her just normal-ness (is that a word) when she stopped the song to restart. Just showing she is human and its ok to make a mistake. My daughter was with me and its so hard for her to "forgive" herself when she makes mistakes. It was great to see.

I brought my older daughter a couple years ago, last time she played the Dorothy Chandler. She forever won my heart with a simple act of kindness. We were waiting with a few of my daughters friends at the stage door. About a hour in, the security told us that she had left. The kids were disappointed and didn't want to leave. About 5 minutes later, a car pulls over at the curb nearby and Audra gets out. She saw them waiting, stopped and joined them. They were thrilled and she was/is so sweet. What an amazing talent, with an amazing heart!!

The whole digital album can be downloaded from iTunes for $11.99. Probably available on Amazon as well.

All the songs I couldn't identify. She picked some tough ones. Three relatively minor musicals from the early sixties written before Audra was born with great composers who had had better days and were to have better days: On a Clear Day, Flora the Red Menace and 110 in the Shade. They left us with the title song "On a Clear Day" and Liza Minnelli. Audra found songs in them.

Favorite song that I was previously unfamiliar with was "Never Will I Marry." I see that Streisand used to sing it frequently.

Was the difference clear when Audra sang "Summertime" unmiked? Her voice went into classical/opera mode for that song so I suppose it would have sounded very distinct with a mike, if she would even consider singing opera with a mike. It was a bit more impressive live in the concert hall.

Otherwise the sound was good on the recording. I mentioned that at the beginning of the concert at the climax of a few songs Audra and the Philharmonic had competed a bit to be on top, and a couple of times the orchestra won. Nothing of that on the recording.

The song that didn't make the cut. Tried to describe this song without much success, but have got it now. "Flying Home," written by Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton. Ella sang it completely scat for the album Lullabies of Birdland and the New York Times called it "one of the most influential vocal jazz records of the decade." When Audra was at MIT trying to bring culture to the techies, one of her colleagues wrote lyrics for the song. Very intricate lyrics. So Audra used I guess her "Shtick" of stopping in the middle of the song, claiming blown lyrics, and on starting up again urged all to sing along with her. Not one other person in the world knew one phrase of those lyrics.

Surprised that no one else who saw this concert checked in here. There were some very good orchestra seats available on the day of the concert that must have been released very late.