Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award-winning soprano Audra McDonald makes a rare Westchester appearance when she takes the stage April 18 at the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater in Peekskill.
The Cortlandt Manor resident owns an unparalleled resume, including most recently her heralded Broadway performance in Gypsy. She’s now preparing to reprise her role in HBO’s The Gilded Age.
McDonald’s stature as a TV and film actress and a vocalist whose range encompasses standards, showtunes, opera and contemporary styles places her in a category of her own. In 2015, she received the National Medal of Arts — America’s highest honor for achievement in the field.
Off stage, McDonald lives with her husband (actor Will Swenson) and their four children. She’s a founding member of Black Theatre United and a board member at Covenant House International, which supports young people experiencing homelessness.
River Journal spoke with McDonald recently for this Q&A, which has been edited for brevity.
RJ: Your upcoming show takes a journey through your career, covering a wide range of styles and characters. Is it difficult to switch from song to song?
McDonald: It can be. It’s very important that you, for lack of a better word, curate the evening. There are certain songs that I would never do after other numbers, and certain numbers that I’d never do before other numbers, in terms of where I’m modulating my voice. So, after I’ve done something very, very high and somewhat semi-operatic … I’d never go way back to something really high.
But basically, it’s all music from the Great American Theater Songbook, which is the main genre in which I perform. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Sondheim, Gershwin, things like that.
RJ: What’s it like performing with just a solo pianist, your music director Andy Einhorn, compared with a full orchestra or ensemble?
McDonald: I’ve had the great privilege to perform with some of the greatest and largest orchestras in the world as well as being on tour for many years with my trio. Throughout the past decade, Andy has been my music director through all of this, either conducting or playing piano. When it’s just the two of us, it becomes more of an intimate evening, which I love. It gives me a chance to be even more loose: for me to continually break the fourth wall, which is for the most part broken when you’re doing concert work anyway. I get to know the audience, have them get to know me, and not be worried about the constraints with an orchestra.
RJ: There’s some storytelling, too, right?
McDonald: I talk to the audience, playing the roles, the context of the songs that have come to me and why I’m singing them on that evening and why I’m singing them at certain places in the evening. And sometimes I talk about my day. The world’s an interesting place; to say the least, it’s the understatement of the century.
Whatever I’m thinking and whatever might be germane to the situation and where we are at that particular moment, I’m not afraid to bring up. I always say that being on stage is this sort of wonderful communion between the audience and the performer. You’re sharing space and you’re sharing your humanity with each other.
RJ: You’re returning to The Gilded Age in Season Four, playing Dorothy Scott, matriarch of a wealthy, educated African American family from Brooklyn. The storyline about Black high society in New York during the 1880s is interesting.
McDonald: It’s been a joy to be a part of this and to be able to unlock this part of history for our audience. Some people are like, ‘Oh, this didn’t happen.’ Well, Yes it did, this community did exist. Black history is multifaceted and a very rich history in the same way that American history is multifaceted, so it’s wonderful to open up this part of the history book and educate our audiences while at the same time entertaining as well.
RJ: Those period dresses are stunning, but what are they like to wear?
McDonald: I’m actually on my way to a costume fitting to get strapped back into those corsets! A lot of the costumes you never see on the screen, but we’re still wearing it anyway. The authenticity is very important. (Costume designer Kasia Walicka Maimone)’s work is just tremendous. The care in which each and every costume is meticulously and historically accurate — and uncomfortable!
RJ: What are some of the things you love about living in Northern Westchester?
McDonald: We live very close to the Croton Dam, we go there all the time. We love to kayak the Croton River. I love going to the Birdsall House, the Blue Pig, the Black Cow. I love to ride the North County Trailway, especially in the fall, when it’s just beautiful. And nobody does Halloween like Northern Westchester. And of course, The Blaze, there’s nothing like it.
- An Evening With Audra McDonald is being presented April 18
- Visit paramounthudsonvalley.com or send email to boxoffice@paramounthudsonvalley.com for information and tickets.
