Almanac of Story Tellers: Audra McDonald

 Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to story telling -- in prose and in poetry, in art and in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of July 3rd

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    It is the 184th day of the year, leaving 181 days remaining in 2022.

   

    On this date in 1970, the singer and actor Audra McDonald was born.

    McDonald tells and sings her stories on the Broadway stage, as well as on the big screen and small screen. She's an opera soprano. She has sung with the top symphony orchestras in the world.

    And she is good at it. Very good. She has won more Tony awards than any other actor. She is the only performer to win a Tony in all four acting categories. She has won two Grammys and an Emmy. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2016. The following year, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

    Originally from Fresno, Calif., McDonald attended the Julliard School of Music in New York. A year after graduation, she won her first Tony Award for starring in the revival of the musical Carousel.

    She quickly followed that up with two more Tonys while starring in the premieres of Master Class and Ragtime, both from the playwright Terrance McNally. McDonald also had major roles in classic plays such as Porgy and Bess and A Raisin in the Sun. She portrayed Billie Holliday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill on both Broadway and in London's West End.

    She has performed with the Houston Grand Opera and the Los Angeles Opera. She has sung for the Boston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

    

    When McDonald made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 1998 with the San Francisco Symphony, it was shown live on PBS.

    She has appeared on television shows such as Law & Order SVU, Kidnapped, The Good Wife, The Good Fight, and currently stars in The Gilded Age on HBO.

    McDonald is active in numerous causes, including at-risk and homeless youth, anti-racism, marriage equality and other LGBT issues, and animal rights.

    She lives in upstate New York.