Next on Mark Cortale’s
BROADWAY AT NOCCA series:
AUDRA MCDONALD!
Visit www.BroadwayNOLA.com for tickets or call 800-838-3006!
Audra McDonald — the five-time Tony Award-winner and recent star of Porgy and Bess on Broadway and TV’s Private Practice — makes her New Orleans debut with two shows only on Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 and 9:30. Both performances will take place in NOCCA’s Lupin Hall, with Sirius XM Radio star Seth Rudetsky as pianist and host.
What’s more: the Broadway @ NOCCA series announced last month that it will initiate a new, $2,500 scholarship! Each year, the scholarship will be awarded to one NOCCA senior who is attending a conservatory or college and specializing in Musical Theatre performance. Each award recipient will be selected by the school’s faculty, based on merit and need. Ms. McDonald will give out the first Broadway @ NOCCA scholarship onstage immediately after her performance!
The Broadway @ NOCCA season closes with Megan Hilty — star of NBC’s Smash (role of Ivy) and Wicked on Broadway — with one show only on Saturday, June 1 at 7:30 (replacing the previously programmed Betty Buckley due to a scheduling conflict). Preceding Ms. Hilty and Ms. McDonald in the star-studded series this season were Patti LuPone in January, Sutton Foster in March, and Megan Mullally of Will & Grace in April. Broadway @ NOCCA artists also give master classes for NOCCA’s Musical Theatre students.
Tickets for all remaining concerts can be purchased at www.BroadwayNOLA.com or by calling 800-838-3006. All concerts are produced by Mark Cortale, long -time producer/manager of Jeffery Roberson, aka Varla Jean Merman, and will be hosted by Sirius/XM radio star Seth Rudetsky at the piano. The series is sponsored exclusively by the New Orleans Hotel Collection and Gambit.
BIOGRAPHY
Audra McDonald became a three-time Tony Award-winner by the age of 28 for her performances in Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime, placing her alongside Shirley Booth, Gwen Verdon, and Zero Mostel by accomplishing this feat within five years. She won her fourth in 2004 for her role in A Raisin in the Sun, a role she reprised for a 2008 television adaptation, earning her a second Emmy Award nomination. On June 10, 2012, McDonald scored her fifth Tony Award win for her portrayal of Bess in Broadway’s The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, thus tying a record held by Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris for most Tony Awards won by an actor.
She also maintains her ties to classical repertoire with an active concert and recording career, performing song cycles and operas as well as concerts throughout the U.S. Audra’s many television appearances include four seasons as Naomi Bennett in Private Practice, as well as Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: SVU, Having Our Say, Mister Sterling, The Bedford Diaries, Kidnapped, the television remake of the musical Annie, and HBO’s Wit with Emma Thompson. She was recently announced as joining the cast of The Good Wife. Her film roles include Cradle Will Rock, Object of My Affection, It Runs in the Family, Best Thief in the World, and Seven Servants.