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Audra McDonald "Absolutely Enchanting" at Gilmore; "A Raisin in the Sun" DVD Available Now

Audra McDonald's performance at the Gilmore Festival late last month in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with Ted Sperling on piano, Mark Vanderpoel on bass, and Dave Ratajczak on drums, says the Kalamazoo Gazette's Linda S. Mah, was "absolutely enchanting." Writes Mah: "Elegant, smooth and funny, McDonald was the consummate performer."

Audra's performance in the TV-movie version of Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun, which first aired earlier this year on ABC, is available today on DVD. She and her co-stars in the film, Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, and Sanaa Lathan, had appeared in the 2004 Broadway revival of the play, for which McDonald and Rashad earned Tony awards. The New York Post called the ABC broadcast "the cultural high point" of the TV season.

The DVD includes audio commentary by director Kenny Leon (who also directed the Broadway revival) and a featurette titled Dreams Worthwhile: The Journey of "A Raising in the Sun."

New York Magazine Celebrates 40 Years of New York Culture

New York magazine is celebrating its 40th year with a special anniversary issue. In it, the magazine's culture critics give their take on the most essential New York works of art since the publication's inception, creating "The New York Canon: 1968-2008."

The classical music list, written by Justin Davidson, offers a wide range of artists and events, from Steve Reich's Drumming, which premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in 1971, to the John Adams-curated opening-week festival of Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in 2003. Among the other quintessential New York moments in between are Laurie Anderson's United States I-V, the epic, two-night event in 1983 from that "great American raconteuse"; the US premiere of Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1991, which, despite the surrounding controversy, "contained ravishing music"; and Audra McDonald's 1998 debut solo album, Way Back to Paradise, with music by emerging songwriters like Adam Guettel, and the "killer concert at Joe's Pub" that launched it.

Listen to Audra perform "The Allure of Silence" (Adam Guettel / Lindy Robbins) from Way Back to Paradise:

Included in the theater canon, according to New York magazine's Jeremy McCarter, is the arrival of Stephen Sondheim's Company in 1970, which "brought new complexity and darker shadows to Broadway" ("Even now," McCarter writes, "other songwriters are struggling to catch up."), and the 2005 revival of the composer's 1979 work Sweeney Todd.

On the pop music list, by Hugo Lindgren and Ben Williams, is Talking Heads' 1980 album Remain in Light, on which David Byrne and Brian Eno create a sound that would inspire for decades to come, and The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs, "a distinctly New York masterpiece."

To read the complete list from New York magazine, visit nymag.com.

"A Raisin in the Sun" with Audra McDonald Out on DVD May 6

The TV version of Lorraine Hansberry's seminal 1959 play A Raising in the Sun, starring Audra McDonald, Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, and Sanaa Lathan, which received its broadcast premiere last week on ABC, will be available on DVD beginning May 6. The cast had appeared in the 2004 Broadway revival of the play, for which McDonald and Rashad (pictured at right) earned Tony awards. The New York Post called the ABC broadcast "the cultural high point" of the TV season.

Playbill reports that the DVD will include an audio commentary by director Kenny Leon (who also directed the Broadway revival) and a featurette titled Dreams Worthwhile: The Journey of "A Raising in the Sun." For more information, visit playbill.com.

Audra McDonald Brings Tony-Winning Role to ABC in "A Raising in the Sun"

In 2004, Audra McDonald, Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, and Sanaa Lathan brought Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun to life with a Broadway revival of the 1959 play, winning Tony awards for McDonald and Rashad. This Monday, February 25, ABC will air a three-hour TV film version featuring the Broadway cast and helmed by Kenny Leon, the production's director. Leon tells the New York Times' that Hansberry's seminal work remains as relevant now as ever: "This play is saying what all the politicians are saying in this election year: It’s time for a change, and it’s time for a dream."

You can read the article and catch a preview clip of the show at nytimes.com. You can see additional clips and listings at abc.go.com.

Audra McDonald Joins Combs, Rashad in TimesTalk Tonight

Audra McDonald joins her castmates from the 2004 Broadway revival of A Raising in the Sun---Sean Combs and Phylicia Rashad---for a sold-out New York Times Live TimesTalks event tonight at the Times Center in Manhattan. They'll be joined by their director, Kenny Leon, and moderator, Times reporter Patricia Cohen, to preview their ABC-TV adaptation of the play and discuss the present-day relevance of Lorraine Hansberry's landmark 1959 work. Although the event is sold out, the Times Center site reports that tickets may be available for purchase at the door after 5:30 PM.

Also participating in a TimesTalk this week is Amy Ryan, who was recently nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress in Gone Baby Gone and is known to fans of HBO's The Wire as "Beadie" Russell. She'll be joined by fellow Oscar nominees, Juno's star, Ellen Page, and director, Jason Reitman, to discuss breakthrough roles. Tickets are still available at thetimescenter.com.

Audra McDonald to Join NY Music Theatre Festival Grand Jury

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) has announced that Audra McDonald will be among the artists on the Grand Jury for this year's Next Link Project, which helps promote emerging talent in musical theatre and is the source for more than half of the Festival's musicals. The fifth annual Festival will run from September 15 through October 5. Submissions for the jury-selected Next Link Project will be accepted through the end of February.

For more information, visit broadwayworld.com or the Festival's site, nymf.org.

Wilco, Audra McDonald, John Adams Make Alex Ross's Best of 2007 List

Alex Ross, the New Yorker's classical music critic, has posted on his blog, The Rest Is Noise, his Apex 07 list—some of the best performances and recordings he's heard this year. Among the best on CD: Wilco's "On and On and On," the closing track from Sky Blue Sky. And among his favorite performances of 2007 are the January 20 Disney Hall performance of John Adams's Näive and Sentimental Music by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the LA Philharmonic (which recorded the 2002 Nonesuch recording), and Audra MacDonald in a Valentine's Day performance of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at LA Opera.

You can read the complete list on therestisnoise.com. You can watch Audra in Mahagonny this week on PBS's Great Performances. Check PBS.com or your local PBS station for listings.

Audra McDonald to Perform at Savannah Music Festival

The Savannah Music Festival has announced its 2008 schedule, and Audra McDonald will be among the performers at this, Georgia's largest musical arts festival. Audra will perform on March 28 as part of the Divine Divas series. The festival will run from March 20 through April 5, 2008.

For more information or tickets, visit savannahmusicfestival.org.

Audra McDonald to Lead Course at Moveable Arts Winter Retreat

Audra McDonald will be among the Broadway luminaries instructing students from theater programs throughout the US at the December 27–29 Moveable Arts Winter Retreat in New York City. Events include workshops and master classes designed to give participants insight into the world of musical theater. Audra will lead a discussion exploring the path from stage to screen. For information, visit moveablearts.org.

PBS Airs "Mahagonny" with Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone on Monday

Next week, PBS offers a very different way to celebrate the holiday season when it airs the Los Angeles Opera's 2007 production of the 1930 Brecht/Weill opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Starting Monday, December 17, Great Performances will broadcast the opera, starring Tony winners Audra McDonald as an ambitious whore and Patti LuPone as an enterprising madame. John Doyle, who directed LuPone in the recent Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd, helmed this production of the work, which PBS calls a "savage and lyrical satire told in a highly entertaining blend of opera and raucous music hall songs." As the Great Performances website tells it:

It's every man for himself in the newly founded city of Mahagonny, devoted to life's illicit pleasures, where anything goes and the only crime is to run out of money. The brilliant score, featuring the Brecht/Weill classic "Moon of Alabama," masterfully creates a vivid picture of determination, desperation, and debauchery.

For more information and local listings, visit thirteen.org.

Richard Goode, Audra McDonald, Brad Mehldau to Perform at Gilmore Festival

The schedule for the 2008 Gilmore Keyboard Festival has been released, and among the artists on the bill for the biannual event are Richard Goode, Audra McDonald, and the Brad Mehldau Trio. The Festival will be held April 24–May 13, in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Richard Goode will perform a special prelude recital on April 13, just before the rest of the festival gets under way, with works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy. On May 8, Audra will perform a vocal recital, backed by a jazz trio, interpreting songs from an ecclectic range of songwriters from Randy Newman to Rodgers & Hammerstein and the Gershwins. Brad and his trio—bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy—will perform two sets on May 2 as part of the Festival's Jazz Club series.

For complete program and ticket information, visit thegilmoreiscoming.com.

Sundance Premiere for "A Raisin in the Sun" with Audra McDonald

Making its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival will be the TV adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, starring the leads of the 2004 Broadway revival, Audra McDonald, Sean Combs, and Phylicia Rashad. Sundance has announced the complete line-up for its 2008 Festival, which will run from January 17 to 27 in and around Park City, Utah. On the program are 121 feature-length films, selected from more than 3,500 submissions, with 87 world premieres and representing 25 countries. For more information, visit sundance.org/festival.

Click here to read more about the TV movie, which the New York Post says will be "the cultural high point" of the TV season when it airs on ABC February 25.

Dawn Upshaw to Perform with NY Phil

Playbill.com reports that Dawn Upshaw will perform Berio's Folksongs with the New York Philharmonic, March 5–8, 2008. Audra McDonald was originally slated to perform at the concerts, but has had to withdraw  due to a scheduling conflict. For more information, visit nyphil.org.

Audra McDonald to Play 2008 Virginia Arts Festival

The line-up for the 2008 Virginia Arts Festival has been announced, and Audra McDonald is among the featured artists, reports the Newport News Daily Press. She'll be at the Sandler Center in Virginia Beach on May 11 as part of the multi-venue festival, which runs April 18–May 26 and includes performers from across the arts, from classical music to theater to dance.

Read more about what's on tap at the festival by visiting dailypress.com.

Nellie McKay, "Ry Cooder of the Ukulele"?

Singer/songwriter Nellie McKay has made a name for herself setting witty, politically savvy lyrics, tongue firmly in cheek, to catchy music reminiscent of Brill Building tunesmiths. (Evidence of this can be found on Audra McDonald's 2006 album Build a Bridge, on which she sings McKay's "I Wanna Get Married." Sample lyric: "I need to cook meals / I wanna pack you cute little lunches / For my Brady bunches / Then read Danielle Steele.")

Nellie seems to be sticking to her guns on her new record, Obligatory Villagers. She tells HARP magazine in the latest issue that she modeled the new album after "proletarian anthems and the fact that I was hoping to become the Ry Cooder of the ukulele."

To read the full interview, visit harpmagazine.com.

Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone in "Mahagonny" on PBS

Theatermania.com reports that the LA Opera production of Brecht/Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, which starred Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone and ran through February 2007, will air December 17 as part of the Great Performances series on New York's PBS station Thirteen/WNET. It will be available on DVD the following day. The production was directed by John Doyle, who also helmed the recent Broadway revivals of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (starring LuPone) and Company.

For more on the Mahagonny broadcast on PBS, visit thirteen.org.

Audra McDonald's "Private Practice" Picked Up for Full Season

Playbill.com reports that ABC's Private Practice, the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off starring Audra McDonald, has been picked up for a full season. The show, which airs Wednesday nights at 9 PM EST, will add nine new episodes for a total of 22 shows this season.

On Audra was among the performers last night at a gala benefit for the Motion Picture & Television Fund hosted by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hugh Jackman. The MPTF offers retirement care and social services for people in the entertainment industry.