Published in United Entertainment Preview, October 2000

By Melany Klinck

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what worth, then, has a song? Two thousand words? Five thousand? More? It's not a purely philosophical question, but a practical one, particularly for those asked to describe the musical prowess of Broadway darling Audra McDonald.

Attempts by reviewers, reporters and mere mortals to describe McDonald's vocal gymnastics invariably lead them on a romp through the thesaurus -- lush, versatile, astonishing, soaring, gorgeous, intimate, sultry. Yet, finally, inevitably, none are able to capture completely the magic of McDonald's extraordinary talent.

Celebrated by both the media and the musical theater community, McDonald's accomplishments are the stuff from which legends are made. Fresh out of Juilliard in 1993, the classically trained soprano snagged her first Broadway role in a revival of Carousel at Lincoln Center. Within three months, at the tender age of 23, she was handed a Tony for best actress in a featured role. McDonald's next two forays onto the stage, in Master Class (1996) and Ragtime (1998), also netted her Tonys for supporting roles.

By 1999, McDonald's place among Broadways greats was firmly established. "She was Julie Andrews but black, Barbra Streisand but trained, Ethel Merman but svelte," raved Jesse Green in New York Times Magazine.

However, McDonald's winning streak in the Tonys ended early this year with her starring role in the edgy musical Marie Christie. Playing a black woman consumed by her love for a white sea captain, McDonald's passionate performance earned a Tony nomination, though not the award. The play, which was written especially for McDonald by writer/composer Michael John LaChiusa, ultimately proved to be critical and financial disappointment and closed after just two months.

So what does a 30-year-old with more awards than most performers see in a lifetime do for an encore? If you're Audra McDonald, you look around for new mountains to climb . . . and conquer.

In hot pursuit of her dream to become an even more accomplished actress, McDonald recently took a breather from the hype and hyperbole of Broadway -- postponing her honeymoon, but not her September 10th wedding to bassist Peter Donovan -- to co-star in the HBO movie Wit with Emma Thompson. Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the film is directed by Mike Nichols, whose credits include Primary Colors, The Graduate, and Silkwood. After Wit, McDonald will move on to another leading role in The Last Debate, a film based on a novel by Jim Lehrer, of PBS The NewsHour.

Will the siren call of Hollywood ultimately lure the stunning soprano away from Broadway? That remains to be seen. Although the singer/actress professes an abiding love for musical theater, she shows no signs of limiting her horizons.

In recent months, she's even contemplated venturing into opera, an ironic notion in light of the fact that as a Juilliard student she became seriously depressed and attempted suicide when she realized her training there was preparing for opera rather than Broadway.

As testament to her recovery and growing maturity, McDonald now admits she does have an operatic voice. "I can see thats the direction [my voice] is wanting to go, and it would be a shame for me not to explore that," says McDonald.

Perhaps, after all, there is a perfect word to describe McDonald. That word is fearless.