A musical journey with Audra McDonald

Susan Saccoccia

A recipient of NEA Arts Journalism fellowships in dance, theater and music, Susan reviews visual and performing arts in the U.S. and overseas.

... VIEW BIO

Multi-Tony, Grammy and Emmy award-winner Audra McDonald returned to Symphony Hall Feb. 27 for the seventh time in a decade with Celebrity Series of Boston, accompanied by a full orchestra for the first time.

McDonald stepped up to the microphone in a sculpted turquoise sheath, and instead of speaking, began with a song —“I Am What I Am” from “La Cage aux Folles.” Her voice, face and body expressed the fierce affirmation of its lyrics, a brave declaration of self-worth. 

The multi-generational audience of more than 2,000 roared its welcome.

Noting that she was “four months late,” having canceled a November concert due to a stomach flu, and now back in Boston with a cold, she then introduced “An Evening with Audra McDonald” as “a journey through the great American musical theater songbook.”

Joining McDonald were 48 local musicians and her long-time stage family: Andy Einhorn, her music director; Glenn Zaleski, pianist; Mark Vanderpoel, bassist; and Gene Lewin on drums and guitar. PHOTO: ROBERT TORRES/CELEBRITY SERIES OF BOSTON

The evening was a master class in the art of concert performance. The Juilliard-trained soprano, as much at home in plays and operas as in film and television roles, led the audience on a journey through varied emotional terrain. Performing 16 songs over 90 minutes, McDonald turned the concert hall into an intimate setting, conversing with the audience with ease and singing songs that encourage people to appreciate themselves and each other. 

Joining her were 48 local musicians and her long-time stage family: Andy Einhorn, her music director; Glenn Zaleski, pianist; Mark Vanderpoel, bassist; and Gene Lewin on drums and guitar.

She recalled moments at home during the pandemic with her husband, Will Swenson (star of “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical”) and their four children, now ages 7 to 23. She found time to develop a new hobby, gardening, but was bad at it. And her youngest child, then age 3, begged her to stop rehearsing, saying, “Mommy, your voice makes my ears cry.” 

Introducing “I Always Say Hello to a Flower,” McDonald said that its writer, Murray Grand, wrote two hits and then ran a pet shop. Alternating between humor and evocations of great artists, she called out Leontyne Price, age 97, as the queen of sopranos, and prefaced “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” as the work of Duke Ellington, American royalty.

McDonald’s sublime rendering of “Summertime,” from “Porgy and Bess,” inhabited its stillness. With another classic, “I Could Have Danced All Night,” from “My Fair Lady,” she drew the audience into singing its soaring chorus, creating a wave of mutual intoxication.

Accompanied by Lewin on acoustic guitar, McDonald’s lyrical “Bein’ Green” matched Kermit the Frog’s semi-spoken version in persuasiveness as a blessing on self-acceptance.

McDonald’s poignant versions of mid-century masterpieces “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” from “South Pacific” and, in a Leonard Bernstein medley, “Some Other Time” and “Somewhere,” along with her reflective “Children Will Listen” from “Into the Woods,” evoked the elusiveness of a world that is safe and welcoming to all.

Tapping the 1950 musical “Let’s Dance,” McDonald showcased her rapid-fire vocal chops with “Can’t Stop Talking.” And with the 1949 jazz standard “Crazy He Calls Me,” she summoned her Tony-winning portrayal of Billie Holiday in the 2014 musical “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill.”

McDonald introduced a 2022 song, “I Love Today,” by recalling how she and her daughter discovered it on R&B artist Emily King’s Instagram page. A captivating video showed King singing the song with her mother, Kim Kalesti, who wrote it after a perfect day with her daughter.