The Broadway Musical Blog – Musical theater news and gossip from the Great White Way
Dishing out daily (or almost daily) Broadway musical news and gossip. The companion site to The Broadway Musical Home (broadwaymusicalhome.com), a directory of Broadway musicals with the story, songs, merchandise, video clips, lyrics, tickets, rights & awards for almost 200 shows.Archive for Audra McDonald
The 2012 Drama League Award Winners
The Drama League Awards, the only major theatergoer awards chosen by audience members, have been announced and Once, Follies, Audra McDonald, and Alan Menken took home the big prizes for musical theatre. Each of them also won the Outer Critics Circle Award in their respective categories. Will they get the Tony nod as well?
DISTINGUISHED PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL
Ghost the Musical
Leap of Faith
Mission Drift
Newsies
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once
Queen of the Mist
DISTINGUISHED REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Carrie
Follies
Evita
The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
Jesus Christ Superstar
DISTINGUISHED PRODUCTION OF A PLAY
Clybourne Park
The Columnist
The Intelligent Homosexuals Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures
The Lyons
One Man, Two Guvnors
Other Desert Cities
Peter and the Starcatcher
Tribes
Seminar
Septimus and Clarissa
Venus in Fur
DISTINGUISHED REVIVAL OF A PLAY
And God Created Great Whales
Death of a Salesman
Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
How I Learned to Drive
Look Back in Anger
The Maids
Wit
DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE AWARD
Jane Alexander, The Lady From Dubuque
Nina Arianda, Venus In Fur
Annaleigh Ashford, Rent
Angela Bassett, The Mountaintop
Simon Russell Beale, Bluebird
Tracie Bennett, End of the Rainbow
Christian Borle, Peter and the Starcatcher
Matthew Broderick, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Kim Cattrall, Private Lives
Heather Christian, Mission Drift
James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Michael Cristofer, The Intelligent Homosexuals Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures
Tyne Daly, Master Class
Jesse Eisenberg, Asuncion
Linda Emond, The Intelligent Homosexuals Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures
Raúl Esparza, Leap of Faith
Santino Fontana, Sons of the Prophet
Andrew Garfield, Death of a Salesman
Russell Harvard, Tribes
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Death of a Salesman
Samuel L. Jackson, The Mountaintop
Jeremy Jordan, Newsies, Bonnie and Clyde
Steve Kazee, Once
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Peter and the Starcatcher
Christine Lahti, Dreams of Flying, Dreams of Falling
Angela Lansbury, Gore Vidals The Best Man
John Larroquette, Gore Vidals The Best Man
Linda Lavin, The Lyons
Norm Lewis, The Gershwins Porgy and Bess
Judith Light, Other Desert Cities
Ricky Martin,Evita
Jan Maxwell, Follies
Jefferson Mays, Blood and Gifts
Marin Mazzie, Carrie
Audra McDonald, The Gershwins Porgy and Bess
Ellen McLaughlin, Septimus and Clarissa
Cristin Milioti, Once
Jessie Mueller, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever
Carey Mulligan, Through A Glass Darkly
Cynthia Nixon, Wit
Leslie Odom, Jr., Leap of Faith
Kelli OHara, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Denis OHare, An Iliad
Lily Rabe, Seminar
DaVine Joy Randolph, Ghost the Musical
Molly Ransom, Carrie
Condola Rashad, Stick Fly
Matthew Rhys, Look Back In Anger
Alan Rickman, Seminar
Elena Roger, Evita
Jeremy Shamos, Clybourne Park
Kevin Spacey, Richard III
Stephen Spinella, An Iliad
Mary Testa, Queen of the Mist
Blair Underwood, A Streetcar Named Desire
Mary Louise Wilson, 4,000 Miles
PREVIOUS DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE WINNERS
The Drama League also wishes to recognize the superb contributions to the season of its previous Distinguished Performance Award winners:
Norbert Leo Butz, How I Learned To Drive
Zoe Caldwell, Elective Affinities
Kathleen Chalfant, Painting Churches
Stockard Channing, Other Desert Cities
Rosemary Harris, The Road To Mecca
Hugh Jackman, Hugh Jackman: Back On Broadway
Sir Derek Jacobi, King Lear
James Earl Jones, Gore Vidals The Best Man
Frank Langella, Man and Boy
John Lithgow, The Columnist
Patti LuPone, An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin
Bebe Neuwirth, A Midsummer Nights Dream
Bernadette Peters, Follies
Sam Waterston, King Lear
DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSICAL THEATRE
Alan Menken
UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION TO THE THEATRE
Rosie ODonnell
FOUNDERS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTING
Diane Paulus
President Barack Obama on Broadway musicals
Yesterday, the Obama family welcomed Broadway to the White house in an event hosted by Nathan Lane, which featured performances by Idina Menzel, Audra McDonald and Brian d’Arcy James, among others. The President opened the event with a reflection on musical theatre’s national significance:
“Now there’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music….It’s one of the few genres of music that can inspire the same passion in an eight-year-old that it can an 80-year-old — and make them both want to get up and dance….In many ways, the story of Broadway is also intertwined with the story of America. Some of the greatest singers and songwriters Broadway has ever known came to this country on a boat with nothing more than an idea in their head and a song in their heart. And they succeeded the same way that so many immigrants have succeeded — through talent and hard work and sheer determination. Over the years, musicals have also been at the forefront of our social consciousness, challenging stereotypes, shaping our opinions about race and religion, death and disease, power and politics. But perhaps the most American part of this truly American art form is its optimism. Broadway music calls us to see the best in ourselves and in the world around us — to believe that no matter how hopeless things may seem, the nice guy can still get the girl, the hero can still triumph over evil, and a brighter day can be waiting just around the bend.”
The event was taped and will be broadcast on PBS on October 20, 2010.
Broadway Impact for Marriage Equality
Gavin Creel and his organization, Broadway Impact, brought together a large group of Broadway actors, directors, stage managers, fans, and producers to march on Washington for gay equality this past Sunday.
It was amazing event marked by performances/speeches by the cast of Broadway’s Hair, Audra McDonald, Cynthia Nixon, David Hyde Pierce, Douglas Carter Beane, Cheyenne Jackson, Speaker Christine Quinn and Governor Paterson – whose proposed bill to grant same-sex couples the equal right to marry in New York prompted Creel to organize.
Here’s the Hair tribe performing at the event:
Did anyone who follows the blog make it to Washington?
Free Download of American River Suite by Flaherty, as Sung by Audra McDonald and Idina Menzel
The New York Pops are providing a free download of the music from their 4th of July celebration, including “American River Suite,” which was composed by Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on This Island, Seussical) and performed by Tony Award winners Audra McDonald (110 in the Shade, Dreamgirls, Ragtime) and Idina Menzel (Wicked, Rent).
Click here to download the performance now! (Available for a limited time only)
