#McDonald Theatre

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament: FINAL

So. It's all come down to this. Were any of us truly surprised? Are any of us really prepared?

Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald (1970) holds the record for most Tony acting awards a person has ever won. She is one of five actors to be nominated across all four respective acting categories and the only person to win every one (and the only actress out of the three who is still living...). Her stage work includes: Ragtime (1998), Porgy and Bess (2012), and Lady Day at Emmerson's Bar and Grill (2014). Internationally acclaimed concert tours, Tony host, crown jewel of the American Stage. Grammy winner, Tony winner, Emmy winner. Get this woman an Oscar, stat. This is a BROADWAY Diva tournament, and Audra Ann McDonald is BROADWAY.

Seven-time Tony nominee, two-time winner Bernadette Peters (1948) has a sixty-plus year stage career of monumental proportions. Considered the foremost Sondheim interpreter, their collaborative works include Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), Gypsy (2003), and Follies (2011). She has a thriving concert career, and was a co-founder of the beloved Broadway Barks event each year in Shubert Alley. She has an honorary third Tony (Isabelle Stevenson Award) for her outstanding advocacy and philanthropy. This is a Broadway DIVA tournament, and I mean come on, look at her. That is the quintessential DIVA right there.

NEW PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT

"I don't know what to tell you if you're somehow on the fence here. Audra Ann McDonald is Broadway's most beloved darling, and that's a quantifiable fact. Look at her award shelf. Her voice could resurrect the dead. She is an Oscar away from EGOT status. She has overcome almost insurmountable racism on the Great White Way. She is everything to me. A triple threat of acting, singing, and dancing where not one takes a backseat and she looks and sounds amazing at all times. "

"I have been besotted by Bernadette Peters (and her bosom) for more than two decades. Her name is synonymous with Broadway. She is THE Broadway Baby. She started in showbusiness as a child and has not left in seven decades. Her voice is emblematic of a time when we let people with unique, fascinating, wildly different voices star in shows rather than have everyone bow to the BA-ification of Broadway where everyone sounds the same and no one is distinctive."

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

idk if its a british thing but its always bothered me a little bit how people use village and town interchangeably in MCD and the fandom lol

they're different things. i get that jesson and most of the fans are American and probably not british/european/from village-inclusive countries but damn

Very different i assure you lol

[markbbrooklyn]

The new marquee is live at the Majestic!!!

[high-quality-tiktoks]

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The series continues with special guest Tony award winner Ari’el Stachel

[supercutofbuck]

AUDRA MCDONALD AS ROSE IN GYPSY ‼️

[cityoftheangelllls]

“Couldn’t hear no music, couldn’t see no light,

Mama, she was frightened, crazy from the fright!

Tears without no comfort, screams without no sound!

Only darkness and pain!

The anger and pain!

The blood and the pain!

I buried my heart in the ground!

In the ground!

When I buried you in the ground…”

Commissions info

[droughtofapathy]

The Gilded Age of Broadway Divas: Duets, Trios, and Other Crossovers

While I wait for my matinee show to start, here's our final compilation just six hours before our season finale. If you've been following along with this series, you'll notice how much overlap there is in the theatre. Everyone has been with, or sung with, or played the same role as everyone else. Here is just a taste of the sublime combined talents of our favorite Broadway Divas. And yes, this is my petition to have a musical episode.

#1: "Lily's Eyes," (The Secret Garden) Miscast 2022 - Audra McDonald and Kelli O'Hara

I watched this, and my soul transcended space and time. Performed at MCC's 2022 Miscast gala honoring Christine Baranski (of course), Audra and Kelli have a brief tiff about which soprano is worthy of Soprano Island before joining together to sing the most resplendent duet you will ever experience in your life.

The Secret Garden opened on Broadway in 1991 starring Rebecca Luker as Lily. Kelli and Audra are singing the parts of Lily's husband and brother-in-law respectively. And like Lily, Rebecca Luker has since passed away. Knowing that they are singing not only to honor Christine, but also to Rebecca, their dear friend and fellow soprano, is yet another layer of heartbreak. I love this song.

#2: "Move On," (Sunday in the Park with George) Princetown concert 2022 - Audra McDonald & Michael Cerveris

Former co-stars reunited in Princetown last year to sing this impromptu duet from the Pulitzer-winning Sunday in the Park with George. Sunday is filled with sublime music, and "Move On" is one of the best. In it, Dot appears to George, the grandson of Georges Seurat, and encourages him to move on with his artistry and stop worrying about perfection. The show itself is beautiful and complex, and a proshot is available for your convenience.

Audra and Michael had previously done a three-day, semi-staged production of this show in 2004, also featuring Patti LuPone as Yvonne/Blair Daniels (the role Christine Baranski created in the original pre-Broadway workshop). Interestingly, this trio would move on to take part in the Lincoln Center Broadcast of Passion in 2005 with Audra as Clara (the Marin Mazzie role), and Patti as Fosca (the Donna Murphy role).

Michael Cerveris would play Giorgio multiple times in his career, including the 10th Anniversary concert with Marin and Donna.

#3 Tonight: Quintet (West Side Story) - Lucky to Be Me: The Music of Leonard Bernstein (2010) - Kelli O'Hara, Donna Murphy, Michael Cerveris

Speaking of Michael Cerveris and Donna Murphy, and joined by Kelli O'Hara, this audio comes from a 2010 concert celebrating the music of Leonard Bernstein. The youtube video incorrectly attributes this to a 2012 concert, but it is not.

"Tonight (Quintet)" is, of course, from West Side Story, where Bernstein wrote the music, and Sondheim wrote the lyrics. Because this was a concert, certain singing parts are taken by those who would not sing such parts in a full production...anymore. (Lest we forget Natalie Wood in the movie.)

Donna sings Anita, and Kelli sings Maria, the two young Puerto Rican women in the show. And I think we'll leave that there. Michael Cerveris sings the part of Riff, and they are joined by Cheyenne Jackson as Tony.

Also featured in this concert is the amazing, incredible, beloved soprano Victoria Clark, who has starred opposite all three of our Gilded Age actors at one point or another. As the Margaret to Kelli's Clara (Light in the Piazza), the Sally to Donna's Phyllis (Encores! Follies), and in Titanic with Michael Cerveris. Theatre, it's all connected.

#4: LoveMusik (2007)

A little more on LoveMusik. While I've already detailed a little on my Donna Murphy post, here's some more about Michael Cerveris, two-time Tony winner. As Kurt Weill, Michael was nominated for a Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League Award, but did not win any. While the show itself was given mixed reviews, the performances of Donna and Michael were almost universally praised.

The 2007 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical included three Gilded Age nominees. Debra Monk (Curtains), Audra McDonald (110 in the Shade) and Donna Murphy (LoveMusik). All three lost to Christine Ebersole of the Grey Gardens variety. Fair. I suppose. However, Audra and Donna tied for the Drama Desk. And there WAS a wonderful clip of their award ceremony online for years, except now that I need it for this, it's been taken down. Of course.

#5: "At the Ballet," (A Chorus Line) - Audra McDonald & Kelli O'Hara

Joined by Megan Hilty, Kelli O'Hara and Audra McDonald performed "At the Ballet" from A Chorus Line at a Lincoln Center Marvin Hamlisch tribute in 2013. Audra showcases a robust lower range I simply adore. Unfortunately the lower key change leaves Kelli's soprano in an awkward place, but I love her anyway.

A Chorus Line is one of the musical theatre greats, and while "At the Ballet" is often overshadowed by "What I Did for Love," it's my personal favorite. The original stage show ran for 6,137 performances, and was nominated for twelve Tonys, winning nine. After Follies, this is the show I most want to see fully staged. A 50th Anniversary revival was rumored back in 2016 for 2025, but I'll believe it when I see it.

#6: The Ladies Who Lunch (Company) - Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Celebration - Christine Baranski & Audra McDonald (ft. Meryl Streep)

Legends. Icons. Divas. What more can I say about "The Ladies Who Lunch," performed by Christine Baranski, Audra McDonald, and Meryl Streep, mother to Louisa Jacobson? As the story goes, they had done so many takes that by this time, they were well and truly on their way to being drunk. And yet, Audra McDonald still sounds more exquisite than anyone on earth.

I watched this when it premiered "live" on YouTube during the early days of the pandemic. Several Broadway stars who would go on to The Gilded Age are featured, including Kelli O'Hara, Laura Benanti, Nathan Lane, and Michael Cerveris.

It has been almost four years, and I have still not recovered from this song's placement in the concert. Picture it: you have just been emotionally wrung out by Donna Murphy's revelatory "Send in the Clowns," sung whilst seated in front of an Al Hirshfeld print of Passion, with her cleavage out in true Mrs. Astor fashion. And then suddenly there's jaunty Company music, and an illustration of the great Elaine Stritch with her martini glass high. And then there is Christine Baranski in a bathrobe and a truly massive glass of red wine. And you think it cannot get any better. And then the second verse hits and there's Meryl Streep with a cocktail mixer. AND THEN Audra Fucking McDonald. They put those two songs back-to-back and expected me to recover one day? As if.

Bonus: "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" (2018) - Nathan Lane & Christine Baranski

While not a musical performance, I would be remiss if I didn't direct your attention to this masterpiece. Did you ever think you'd hear Aunt Agnes gunning to see Ward McAllister's dick? No? Well, here it is. Terrence McNally wrote "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" specifically for his 1991 original cast which included Christine as Chloe and Nathan Lane as her brother Sam. And they are going through marital troubles with their respective spouses. Nathan and Christine reunited in 2018 to perform this scene for McNally's 80th Birthday.

But the Gilded Age connection doesn't stop there:

In 2019, The New York Times Magazine ran a special "America 2024" issue, as a tribute to Terrence McNally. The whole thing is a fantastic read, and I'd recommend it. In it features photoshoots depicting scenes from several of McNally's plays, including "Lips Together, Teeth Apart." And look who's here: Donna Murphy as Chloe (the Christine Baranski role), Broadway's Leading Man Brian Stokes Mitchell, Michael Shannon as Sam (the Nathan Lane role), and Katie Finneran.

And on one of four covers for this issue, Celia Keenan-Bolger.

With that, the conclusion to my little Diva miniseries. I hope you've found this as entertaining as I have. And if you'd like me to go into more detail about anything you've seen throughout this series, let me know, because I have so much more gossip and drama that I had to restrain myself from adding.

LINK TO MASTERPOST

[letteredcellar]

Anne Hathaway, Audra McDonald, and Raul Esparza, Delacorte Theatre production of Twelfth Night, 2009.

[mthguy]

The Original Broadway cast of Ragtime performs on the 1998 Tony Awards

“The sound of distant thunder Suddenly starting to climb... It was the music: Of something beginning, An era exploding, A century spinning In riches and rags, And in rhythm and rhyme. The people called it ragtime... Ragtime! Ragtime! Ragitme!”

[nycticoraxtheatre]

Passion: Lincoln Center Concert

Some people enjoyed my subtitled bootleg of “Kiss of the Spider Woman” I uploaded a while back, so here is a bootleg of the Lincoln Center concert version of Sondheim’s “Passion” with subtitles. The only version I can find of this slime tutorial has a large watermark across it and no subtitles. This version stars Patti LuPone, Michael Cerveris, and Audra McDonald.

[hyacinthi-mortem]

MAC IS A THEATRE KID.

(S11: E9 "the gang goes to hell")

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament: Semifinals

Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald (1970) holds the record for most Tony acting awards a person has ever won. She is one of five actors to be nominated across all four respective acting categories and the only person to win every one (and the only actress out of the three who is still living...). Her stage work includes: Ragtime (1998), Porgy and Bess (2012), and Lady Day at Emmerson's Bar and Grill (2014). Internationally acclaimed concert tours, Tony host, crown jewel of the American Stage. Grammy winner, Tony winner, Emmy winner. Get this woman an Oscar, stat. This is a BROADWAY Diva tournament, and it doesn't get much more BROADWAY than this.

Legend, icon, certified GILF Christine Baranski (1952) has a theatre resume a mile long. A two-time Tony winner, Christine has performed on and off-Broadway, regionally, and internationally in shows such as Mame at the Kennedy Center, the pre-Broadway workshop of Sunday in the Park with George, and the infamous flop that was Nick & Nora (1991). She can be seen alongside a slew of other Broadway Divas in HBO's The Gilded Age, and has also participated in at least ten Sondheim shows and concerts over the years. This is a Broadway DIVA tournament, and it doesn't get much more DIVA than this.

NEW PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT: ALL POLLS HERE

"Okay, so. I've seen Audra McDonald in concert three times, and each time has been a soul-ascending experience. She is *THE* Diva of Broadway in every single definition of the word. Most Tonys, tied for most nominations, critically acclaimed. I'm listening to "I Could Have Danced All Night" as I type this out, and the high note she just hit at the climax almost knocked me out of my seat. If you do not vote for Audra McDonald in this BROADWAY DIVA TOURNAMENT, what are you even doing here?"

"Did you know that Christine Baranski has a lakehouse in Connecticut, and she invites all her famous friends to go swimming "with or without" swimsuits? Cherry Jones is particularly fond of staying out on the lake all night long. If that's not icon diva behavior, what is? Christine may be a big screen star with some Emmys and whatnot, but she started on the stage, and she remembers her roots fondly. I long for the day when she comes back, if only for a special one-night-only extravaganza."

[hobis-hope94]

the next person to try and sneak in hot food today in my theatre is going to seriously get a telling off from both me and our door supervisor. nobody wants to be sitting next to someone eating a meal during a live production, so don’t be a dick.

[hundredsofsmallbirds]

brought a sketchbook tonight im filling my time efficiently

[andromeda3116]

for some unfathomable reason, i've been thinking a lot lately about this insane comedic original story i started when i was first at college and didn't have internet, way back in 2008, and i went back and tracked it down (on Ye Olde LiveJournal, which hauntingly still exists in the aether) and like. i still kinda have a fondness for it. it's ridiculous and extremely 2008, both in terms of being dated and in terms of who i was a person then, but i still kinda wish i'd ever finished it. the idea has milled about in my head of actually handling the concept now, as an adult, but tbh, i don't think it would really translate into my style now. it just exists as an artifact of my sense of humor circa age seventeen.

i can still remember being the person who wrote it, sitting in that dorm at that desk on that dinosaur laptop and you know, sometimes i still miss her.