A NOD TO PARKLAND
Audra McDonald’s show to have special Broward touch.
Audra McDonald has been thinking about Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School throughout her concert tour.
“My heart is with them,” McDonald says during a telephone interview from her home in New York. “I’ve been talking about these kids a lot lately. I’ve been dedicating my encore to them and their hopes and dreams, that they are going to save us from ourselves. I fear for them, and I’m proud of them. I sing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ and I dedicate it to them. They’ve been on my mind. I’ve been speaking about this all over the country.”
The six-time Tony Award winner will have the chance to make that speech closer to the survivors of the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland during her concert Wednesday at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. The star of “The Good Fight” will perform songs from her own songbook as well as selections from her new live album, “Sing Happy,” which has her belting hits, backed by the New York Philharmonic, from Broadway musicals such as ‘Company,” “La Cage aux Folles,” “Into the Woods,” “South Pacific” and “Funny Girl.”
McDonald’s own stage successes include “Ragtime,” “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.” She is also known for her work on television in series such as “Private Practice,” “The Good Wife” and the live telecast of “The Sound of Music.”
How do you settle on your song selection?
It’s got to mean something to me. To quote Billie Holiday, “If I can’t feel it, I can’t sing it.” I have to have some sort of connection to it.
I hear there’s a little sociopolitical archness to the songs you have picked from the American songbook. True?
I didn’t set out to sing songs that have to do with the zeitgeist, this world, this country, this administration. But it just happened that I ended up singing songs that make sure that we are teaching our children the right things, teaching them not to hate, songs that celebrate who you are, being proud of who you are. It just came together, songs about love and humanity, when I look back.
Audra McDonald will perform 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., in Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $25-$145. To order, call 954-462-0222 or go to BrowardCenter.org.