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6-time Tony Award winner AUDRA McDONALD to play Leicester Square Theatre in April


6-time Tony Award winner AUDRA McDONALD

 is coming back to the West End for 4 nights!
Photo by Michael Wilson
Record-breaking 6-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald is to return to London’s West End in April for four concerts at Leicester Square Theatre, where she completely sold out her shows last year.

The Broadway legend will be joined on stage this time by host & pianist Seth Rudetsky, who last month starred in the 5-star London premiere of his Broadway musical “Disaster!”.

The performances will also include a special guest appearance by McDonald’s husband, Will Swenson (the Tony nominated star of “Hair” and “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”) and are produced by Mark Cortale.

Audra McDonald in Concert will run at Leicester Square Theatre on April 12, 13, 14 & 15.

Press night is Wednesday April 12 at 8.45pm.

The format of the evening will be a seamless mix of intimate behind-the-scenes stories from one of Broadway’s biggest stars – prompted by Rudetsky’s probing, funny, revealing questions – and Audra singing some of the biggest hits from her musical theatre repertoire.

This is a spontaneous evening of hilarity and show-stopping songs not to be missed.

Audra McDonald’s last series of Leicester Square Theatre concerts were this week named one of 2016’s “Best Gigs of the Year” by reviewer Clive Davis of The Times and were among LiveTheatreUK’s Top 10 West End Musicals of the year. “Audra MacDonald’s Leicester Square Theatre concert was not really a musical, but it certainly counted as one of the greatest nights of musical theatre in the year. McDonald was a complete superstar, effortlessly telling deeply affecting stories through song, connecting intuitively with her audience and singing with a ferocity, a gentle touch, a supremely confident and peerlessly matched tone that simply took one’s breath away. Time after time.”

Audra McDonald holds the record for more Tony Best Performance wins than any other actor in history, and is the only person to win all four acting categories. She married Will Swenson in 2012 and this past October they became new parents to a baby girl.

Producer Mark Cortale previously presented the acclaimed Patti LuPone in concert with Seth Rudetsky in the same concert format at Leicester Square Theatre in 2013.


Audra McDonald

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 Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess” thus tying a record held by Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris for most Tony Awards won by an actor. This past June she made history by winning her sixth Tony Award for her role as Billie Holiday in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.” 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 US. 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 TV remake of the musical “Annie,” and HBO’s “Wit” with Emma Thompson and more recently as a cast member of “The Good Wife.” In December 2013 Audra won critical acclaim for her performance as the Mother Abbess in NBC’s live telecast of “The Sound of Music” with Carrie Underwood. Her film roles include “Cradle Will Rock,” “Object of My Affection,” “It Runs in the Family,” “Best Thief in the World,” and “Seven Servants.” Ms. McDonald just returned to the Broadway stage this spring and summer of 2016 with director George C. Wolfe and dancer/ choreographer Savion Glover in the musical “Shuffle Along, Or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,” a new retelling of an original musical by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award.

Will Swenson

Will Swenson received a Tony nomination for the revival of “Hair” and has also appeared on Broadway in “Lestat,” “110 in the Shade,” “Brooklyn” and most recently in the hit musical comedy “Disaster!” Off-Broadway, he played the role of Stacee Jaxx in the musical “Rock of Ages” (but didn’t perform the role on Broadway because he was offered the starring role of Berger in the Broadway revival of “Hair”). He has been seen as Sir Sagramore in “Camelot” at Lincoln Center and as Chris in the second national tour of “Miss Saigon.” He has a long relationship with the musical “Hair”, first played the role of Berger in the Off-Broadway 40th Anniversary Concert of Hair opposite Karen Olivo. Next, in 2008, Swenson was again cast as Berger in The Public Theater’s revival of the show in Central Park. He then went on to reprise the role when the production moved to Broadway in March 2009, for which he received critical acclaim and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. Not finished yet - he played the role of Berger again in the West End revival of Hair which began performances in spring of 2010. Swenson also appeared as in the guest cameo slot for the extension performance of Katie Thompson’s “R.R.R.E.D.: A Secret Musical,” in the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. He also starred in the North American company of “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” In October 2013, Swenson was cast as Inspector Javert in the 2014 Broadway revival of “Les Misérables”, which opened in March 2014 at New York’s Imperial Theatre, where the musical had previously run for 13 years.

LISTINGS INFO

Mark Cortale presents

AUDRA McDONALD

with special guests
WILL SWENSON
and
SETH RUDETSKY
as pianist & host

Wednesday April 12 at 8.45pm
Thursday April 13 at 8.45pm
Friday April 14 at 8.45pm
Saturday April 15 at 8.45pm

Press night:
Wednesday April 12 at 8.45pm

Leicester Square Theatre
6 Leicester Place
London
WC2H 7BX


Tickets:
£70.00*, £55.00, £40.00, £25.00
*Strictly limited number of top price tickets include post show
meet & greet

Booking fees apply

Box office: 0207 734 2222
www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

Show runs 90minutes

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