I have a huge amount of respect for Audra McDonald as a musician and vocalist. Ive seen her live and on recordings, and she is a great singer in many settings. She also seems like a wonderful person. But her performance last night on the Colbert Report - part of the publicity push for her new Broadway show about Billie Holiday - was pretty awful. She tries to impersonate Billies voice, but its more like a caricature. David Sedaris sounds more like Billie than she does. Of course, it begs the question of why they cast her in the role to begin with -- I guess because shes a big name and will help sell tickets. This bothers me on several levels, but most importantly because of what she says in her interview -- that she hopes the show will educate people who may not know anything about jazz or Billie Holiday. Its impossible for me to imagine anyone who had never heard jazz walking out of this show and wanting to hear more.
Posted on: Thu, 01 May 2014 14:56:01 +0000
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