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Audra McDonald to receive the National Equality Award

HRC

On Saturday, February 3, Audra McDonald will be recognized at the Human Rights Campaign’s Greater New York Gala. They will honor her with the National Equality Award in recognition of her outstanding efforts in standing up for LGBTQ rights. In 2011, she joined pro-equality marchers in Albany to lobby New York state senators in the days leading up to their groundbreaking vote for marriage equality, and in 2009, she joined Twitter to promote the cause, using the Twitter handle @AudraEqualityMc.

HRC President Chad Griffen said, “From the Broadway stage to the silver screen, Audra McDonald has captivated and inspired audiences around the globe in a truly profound way. Most importantly, she uses her incredible talent to help make the world a better place by speaking out for the vulnerable and the oppressed. We are proud to recognize such a vocal advocate for LGBTQ equality at this year’s Greater New York Gala.”

Audra is also the 2009 recipient of the Ally For Equality Award from the organization. You can watch her acceptance speech here.

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Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night Gala Lineup Announced

Screen Shot 2018-02-08 at 3.20.24 PMOn October 3, Carnegie Hall opens its 2018-2019 season with Audra McDonald, Renée Fleming, Michael Tilson Thomas, and the San Francisco Symphony. An installment of Tilson Thomas’ Perspectives series, the gala will feature Ravel’s La valse, Gershwin’s Cuban Overture and An American in Paris,  as well as songs, arias, and duets from opera and musical theater.

Click here for more information and gala reservations.

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Spend New Year’s Eve with Audra McDonald & the New York Philharmonic

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On December 31, Audra McDonald will host New York Philharmonic New Year’s Eve: Bernstein on Broadway, a centennial tribute to the iconic composer Leonard Bernstein on PBS. The program will feature songs from his hit shows including Candide, On the Town, West Side Story, and Wonderful Town. Under the direction of Bramwell Tovey, the storied orchestra will be joined by Annaleigh Ashford, Christopher Jackson, Laura Osnes, and Aaron Tveit.

Nationally televised as part of Live from Lincoln Center, the concert will begin at 9 PM ET. Click here to check local listings.

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Audra McDonald receives her 5th NAACP Image Award Nomination

For her role as Madame de Garderobe in Disney’s 2017 live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast,” Audra McDonald receives her 5th NAACP Image Award Nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. Other nominees include Keesha Sharp for “Marshall,” Regina Hall and Tiffany Haddish for “Girls Trip,” and Tessa Thompson “THOR: Ragnarok.”

The 49TH NAACP Image Awards will air on TV ONE on Monday, January 15. To VOTE and for all information and the latest news, please visit the official NAACP Image Awards website at: http://www.naacpimageawards.net. Voting closes Friday, Dec. 15th. 

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Audra McDonald named recipient of the 2018 McDermott Award in the Arts from MIT

MITEstablished in 1974 by MIT’s Council for the Arts, the prestigious McDermott Award includes an artist residency, gala, public program, and a $100,000 prize that symbolizes an investment in the recipient’s future creative endeavors.

In Audra’s statement about the topics of her upcoming residency, she remarked, “Art is not just something beautiful that we experience in a theater or museum. Art can also be painful or make us feel vulnerable, but in that discomfort it has the power to be illuminating, transformative, and revelatory,” she said. “As in life, art must relish the joys while also embracing the suffering and struggle — a paradox that epitomizes the human experience. My greatest hope is that art helps us as a society to find common ground, to create dialogue, and to understand each other in new and meaningful ways.”

MIT says, “The goal of the residency is to provide the recipient with unparalleled access to the creative energy and cutting-edge research at the Institute, and to develop mutually enlightening relationships with MIT students and faculty.”

Past recipients include David Adjaye, Olafur Eliasson, Robert Lepage, Gustavo Dudamel, Bill Viola, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Santiago Calatrava.

Learn more about the award and Audra’s residency here.

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HELLO AGAIN in Theaters November 8

Hello Again InstagramAudra McDonald’s latest film project, movie musical HELLO AGAIN, receives a limited national release beginning November 8.

The decorated cast also includes Martha Plimpton, T.R. Knight, Rumer Willis, Cheyenne Jackson, Jenna Ushkowitz, Tyler Blackburn, Sam Underwood, Nolan Gerard Funk and Al Calderon. The film, directed by Tom Gustafson, features a screenplay by Cory Krueckeberg, and music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa.

One hundred years. Ten love affairs. One city of lost souls. HELLO AGAIN explores a daisy chain of New Yorkers slipping in and out of one another’s arms in 10 musical vignettes blurring the parameters of time, love, eroticism and exploitation. The film HELLO AGAIN is based on the Michael John LaChiusa stage musical of the same name. The inspiration for HELLO AGAIN is Arthur Schnitzler’s Der Reigen, a 120-year-old play so provocative and controversial in its time that it was banned from public performance for decades, before inspiring heated, even violent, responses from audiences.*

Theater information and tickets available at www.HelloAgainMovieTix.com.

*SPEAKproductions/Martian Entertainment

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