Audra McDonald & "Shuffle Along"

I saw Audra McDonald perform with Josh Groban or at least in the same concert at least twice. Once was in Lincoln Center, I think at the Marvin Hamlisch concert. The other was on his Stages DVD. Anyone new to this blog is perhaps not aware that being a Grobanite is a central feature of mine and of this blog.

After Stages, I looked up some of her videos on YouTube. I liked what I heard. I decided I wanted to hear more of her singing, and in person.

So I went to her website and looked for her tour. Josh said on the DVD that she was on tour. I found out she was in New York City for a while in March doing a show called “Shuffle Along.” I was still thinking this was the name of a concert she was doing. Josh always has names for his concert tours.

The show was in a Broadway Theater, The Music Box, but I know Jackie Evancho has done concerts in Broadway theaters, so I was still thinking it was a concert.

I got there early and there was a huge line to get in, people who already had tickets. I double checked my ticket and I had an assigned seat, so I went off to the side and checked in to my next day's acting job using my cell phone.

Eventually the line started moving. I went in past a very cool, historical drinking fountain, where the water was coming out of something that looked like a fish and there were small paper cups to collect it. These were really small, like shot glasses. You had to drink several of them to get any appreciable amount of water. Fortunately, there wasn't a line for that.

Nor was there a line for the bathroom, fortunately. I suspect they must have added some stalls since the original theater. The place was quite ample. Curiously, I later saw men waiting for the restroom at intermission. You seldom see that.

It turned out that the show was sold out. I like to buy cheap tickets, so I was near the rear of the balcony. I don't have long legs. My height has always been in my torso. Even so there wasn't enough leg room. It was quite uncomfortable.

It was the guy sitting next to me who clued me in to the fact that it was a Broadway show, a musical. Fortunately, Audra was appearing in the musical, as one of the leads. Naturally, there four male leads, and only one female, though there were some supporting females who got substantial performance time.  

One of the other leads was Brian Stokes Mitchell. He also has performed with Josh Groban. There's a recorded duet of them somewhere. Also I saw Mitchell at the Americans for the Arts Awards, where Josh got an award back in 2012. They both got awards.

So I essentially killed two birds with one stone, getting to hear them both perform. 

Apparently some of the other performers are well known also, but not to me, so that wasn't as exciting for me.

Anyway, the guy next to me informed me that Shuffle Along was the first Broadway play to be all Afrimerican performers. He thought this was a reenactment, tho that also turned out to be not quite right.

They sang the songs from the original show, but in between they told the story of the show and of the performers. It turned out to be a history lesson.  I found parts of the show fairly confusing at first, possibly because I was coming in with the wrong expectations. 

I did like Audra best of all the performers. It turns out that she's a triple threat.  She acts and she did tap dancing.  Although she seemed quite shy and retiring in the video where she performed with Josh, she didn’t seem so on stage at all. She played a sassy character convincingly.

I definitely did like her singing a lot. Everyone was singing on stage, but her voice was the one I liked best. If she were to do a concert on her own, I would love to hear her.  She has a very rich, full tone.  Though belting seems to be all the rage on Broadway, she’s more of a legit singer.  It’s nice to know that legit singers aren’t completely excluded from Broadway.