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Four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, scheduled to open the seventh season of the American Songbook season, has canceled her Jan. 6 performance due to illness.

McDonald's performances on Jan. 7 and 8 are, at this time, scheduled to go on as planned.

The award-winning singer-actress will present a brand-new concert celebrating contemporary pop composers at the new Rose Theater in the Frederick P. Rose Hall at the Time Warner Center. McDonald's evenings will boast works by Elvis Costello, Laura Nyro, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and Prince. Featuring a ten-piece band, the concerts will also include songs by such McDonald favorites as Michael John LaChiusa and Adam Guettel. (McDonald is also at work on a new album that will feature the works of these many composers.)

About her American Songbook concerts, McDonald recently told Playbill On Line, "We always try and put a few of our favorites in, but it's basically a new show. We're doing a lot of works by these composers and then some pop material, trying to explore the bridge between their work and the pop world. I'm not crossing over — this is not Audra's big crossover," she laughed. "I'm not becoming Britney Spears. Actually, a lot of the music I've chosen is music that I think could have been conceived for any musical in this day and age."

When asked about how she chooses songs for her concerts, the singer explained, "I pick a lot of it, but I get a lot of ideas thrown at me from different places. My music director, Ted Sperling, helps a lot. I also have a lot of people whose taste in music I appreciate and respect. Certain things — like the Laura Nyro tunes — came from [conductor] Michael Tilson Thomas back in 1998. And, the Elvis Costello tune was a tune that a pianist of mine suggested that I sing, and then I was chatting with [jazz vocalist] Diana Krall, and she said, 'You know what song you should sing? My husband's.' When things like that drop into your lap or come across your consciousness like that, I try and pay attention to them."

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New York Daily News

Originally published on January 9, 2005

So long, same old songs

BY DAVID SPRAGUE
DAILY NEWS WRITER

When called upon to dish out selections from the so-called "American Songbook," most singers morph into performing versions of diner cooks, serving up simple aural comfort food.
Tony winner Audra McDonald didn't fall into that trap at the Rose Theater in the Time Warner Center last night, choosing instead to spice things up with a vengeance.

That meant swapping old war horses like Sammy Cahn and Cole Porter for songwriters that were almost certainly unknown to the majority of the sold-out crowd. But thanks to McDonald's winning performance, it wouldn't be surprising to see twentysomething eccentrics like Nellie McKay, whose "Stepford Wives"-styled allegory "I Wanna Get Married" was a highlight, get a sudden influx of show tune fans.

Appropriately enough, given her Broadway roots, McDonald trotted out plenty of material that dripped with drama, notably Rufus Wainwright's opera-queen plaint "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" and the fiery Laura Nyro obscurity "Tom Cat Goodbye."

At times, however, her emphasis was oddly misplaced. An angst-ridden take on John Mayer's "My Stupid Mouth," for instance, only played up the "Dude, Where's My Prozac" insipidness of the song's lyrics.

While McDonald could be blamed for making some iffy choices in material, her vocal performance was spot-on throughout the 90-minute show - from the Brazilian lilt she attached to "Wonderful You" to the trembling reading she gave Elvis Costello's "God Give Me Strength."

McDonald peppered the set with plenty of humor - explaining, for instance, that she canceled her scheduled Thursday performance at the same venue due to a stomach virus that "would've turned it into a Gallagher show," referring to the smash-happy comic.

Like the songs themselves, though, McDonald's banter sometimes delivered a subtle sting. Late in the show, she turned towards stage left and asked, "We all know what color I am, right?" waiting a few beats before divulging that she meant to say she was "blue" and not "red."

That served as an introduction to Randy Newman's nuke-'em-all burlesque "Political Science," a 1972 composition that could easily pass for a George W. Bush campaign speech. The way McDonald performed it last night, it could just as easily slip into the canon of standards - a sly, subversive trick that would surely make Cole Porter smile.