anyone else see Audra tonight?

[shesings]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 1:08am

I went to the opening night of American Songbook (part 2) at Lincoln Center this evening featuring the lovely Audra McDonald. What a delight she is. What never fails to amaze me with Audra is how she makes everything seem so effortless. She has such natural grace and beauty. If the rest of the season is as good as this evening then I encourage you all to try to catch some of the shows this season!

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 1:30am

I also saw Audra McDonald tonight and was less than thrilled. I had previously seen her in 'Carousel' and was expecting to be captivated. Alas, I was not. First, the Rose Theatre is awful. A big barn. Yes, I was in the balcony and would not recommend it to anyone. Along the ceiling are big square plexi lights which change color periodically serving no other purpose than to distract those of us in the cheap seats. And the seats are very narrow, even by Broadway standards. You can see the brick wall behind the stage as well as pipes, conduits, and a ladder off stage left. Very classy. Secondly, while Audra has a fabulous voice, her choice of material left me cold. Her repertoire was more suited to a small nightclub rather than a big hall. The songs got lost in all that space. Even she acknowledged that her music is 'dark'. Toss us a bone and sing something with a melody! The audience seemed less than thrilled. About half of them stood for the ovation but after a (brief) encore, it looked like everyone stayed seated. The post-show buzz going down the escalator was not terribly enthusiastic either. An underwhelming evening.

[sweetiedarlinmia]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 4:11am

I saw her and am typing my review as i speak.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 4:48am

Audra, time to retire the joyless, inaccessible, pointlessly complicated and emotionally opaque repertoire. Enough already. Updated On: 1/8/05 at 04:48 AM

[Aphexis]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 7:47am

I also saw Audra last night...and...she obviously has quite a bit of talent but I would have to agree that the material she chose wasn't as widely varied as I would have liked to have seen. I have seen her in concert only once before and even then she had a little bit more of a diverse repertoire, and all though I am a huge fan and enjoyed the show none the less...I could tell that others in the audience were not as enthused by the encore.