WEBVTT - From the Archives: Audra McDonald 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:04.560 Hey, it's Alec Baldwin here. Before we launch our next 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:08.800 season of Here's the Thing at iHeartRadio in January, I 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:12.320 thought I'd play some of my favorite shows from the archives. 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:16.800 Audra McDonald occupies a unique place in the American theater. 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.160 With six Tony Awards, she has the most of any 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:23.319 actress in history. She is renowned for her work in 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.720 opera as well as in films and on television. Here 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:28.680 is my conversation with Audra. 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:47.760 McDonald svens. 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:52.080 Hoatchuny. 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.800 Much like the staggering beauty of her singing, Audra McDonald 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:06.320 is impossible to ignore. The only person to sweep all 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.520 four acting categories at the Tonys, she's one of the 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:14.720 most decorated Broadway stars of all time. Reviews of her 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:21.600 award winning performances overflow with accolades. She's spellbinding, radiant, and 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:26.440 wrenchingly human. This year, the Julliard graduate took on her 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:31.360 first voice over role, playing Madame Gardrobe in Disney's Beauty 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.760 and the Beast. The performance was so great one critic 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.280 wrote that her name and the credits prompted theatergoers to 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:42.479 erupt in cheers. I sat down with Audre before her 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:46.240 debut this summer in London's West End, where she takes 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.040 on Billy Holliday, whose life as a black female performer 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:51.360 hits close to home. 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:56.280 Specifically for me, I would say that there was an 0:01:56.320 --> 0:02:00.640 expectation on my part that things would get easier as 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.600 a result of being successful. You know, well, what do 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:07.640 you mean, they're going to make more money than I am, 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:10.120 and yet we're doing the same thing, we're playing we're 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.560 basically equal as far as the roles are concerned. 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.200 Or what did you do to address that? If anything? 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.040 I didn't. For I didn't do anything for a while 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:21.880 I should have, and I didn't. I just went along well. 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:23.560 And especially you know, when you're an actor, it's like 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.320 you're always being told you should be grateful you've got 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:27.560 the job, you know. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:29.960 So being told that if you if you push too much, 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:32.320 you're going to get a bad reputation for being Yes, yes, 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.280 and I those actors that are infinitely less talented than 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:36.840 you all the time. 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:38.959 They're just easy to easier to work with, and they 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.160 don't they don't cause in terms of. 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:43.520 Being an African American performer, did that change? 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:45.360 Well, I tell you, I mean, let me give you 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.480 an example. Of how in some ways it changed and 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.560 didn't change. I have to I have to acknowledge the 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.520 fact that I am someone who has had uh an 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.680 incredible opportunity in terms of sort of breaking down barriers 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.639 as far as like color bland casting, being color blind, 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:04.920 cast as Carrie Pepperridge in Carousel, you know, or the 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:07.400 fact that I played Mother Abbess and the Sound of 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.959 Music Live, you know, and you know a lot of 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.840 people have issues with that, but you know, I was 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:16.120 the one that got the opportunity to do that. You know, 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.760 when I was doing Annie for ABC, they did a 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:23.120 version of that with Kathy Bates and Victor Garber and 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.000 Alan Comming and Kristin Chenowith, and they cast me as 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.640 Grace Ferrell and there was a scene at the end 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:33.919 where Grace Ferrell and Daddy Warbocks proposes to Grace Ferrell 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:35.760 at the end, the happy endings happening, you know. 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:37.120 And Victor was Daddy Warbucks. 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:41.360 Yes, he was my daddy. I love him too. And 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.520 actually you'll appreciate this. We were sitting around one day 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:46.760 on the set and you know, in a big, gorgeous 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:48.920 mansion that Daddy war Books has and we were sitting 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:50.880 between takes, and I was sitting next to Victor and 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.200 I just got a little emotional. I said, Victor, what 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.880 if this was really our house and we were really 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:00.160 getting married and we had all this money and this life. 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.120 And he said, in the just true Victor fashion, Darling, 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:07.400 get a hold of yourself. You can totally hear Victors 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:11.200 saying that, right. But anyway, so we were film king Barriers. Yeah, 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:14.240 we're filming. We were filming Annie, and so we shot 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:18.159 the scene where you know, Daddy Warbucks gives Grace Farrell 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.479 the ring and it's lovely, and then we get word 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.479 that we have to come in on a Saturday to 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:30.200 do some reshoots. And Rob Marshall was directing, and Neil 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.159 Maren and Craig Zayden, who were wonderful, wonderful producers and 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:34.880 have been very kind to me over the years and 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:36.160 give me a lot of work. That cast me in 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:40.320 Sound of Music as mother Abbess, and they said we 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:43.919 have to do some reshoots, and then they took me 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:46.880 aside and said, it turns out that Disney might be 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.320 a little uncomfortable or the powers that be. I don't 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:51.120 know if it was Disney abcre I don't know. We 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.120 are comfortable. There might be some issues with Daddy Warbucks 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:58.599 actually marrying Grace. So forty year was this nineteen ninety 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:04.240 nine nine, So we need to reshoot the scene and 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.880 do it without. 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.600 You're hooking up the Daddy Warbucks. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:15.800 Giving Yeah, And I was devastated. I was I was devastated. 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.520 It's one of those things where you know you're starting 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:19.960 to feel good, You're starting to feel like, oh, there's 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:22.400 really change coming. Things are happening here. I am playing 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.320 this role and it's it's Annie, but nobody cares. 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:27.520 And it's what did everybody else feel? Including Victor? 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:30.120 I think everybody and I think they were all kind 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:31.680 of horrified, and you know, and. 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:33.719 Also did they use the product in the film? 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:36.599 Rob said, Okay, so we're all going to come in 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:38.800 on a Saturday, and you know how expensive that is 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:40.760 when you're only shooting Monday through Friday. Come in on 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.039 a Saturday just to reshoot the scene. So everybody comes 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.960 in and we get dressed up in that moment for 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:51.880 that scene, and Rob does one big master take of 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.400 Daddy Warbucks just sort of going, hey and bait buddy 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:57.680 a buddy, It's great in this great this happened okay, 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:05.320 exactly you over there, you person, you and he got 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:09.800 one shot, one master take one shot. And then Rob said, okay, 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.159 got that, so while we're here, and then he proceeded 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:15.480 to reshoot other things that he thought he could make 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.280 photos it, so he tanked to it. 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.040 He did tank it so they couldn't use it. 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.080 So they ended up using where so you look in 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.800 the film and Daddy Warbucks proposes to Grace Ferrell in 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:28.479 that and that's because that's because of Rob, you know, 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.919 and his courage, his courage. Absolutely. And then at the 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:34.920 end of the year when the film came out, Time 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.360 magazine said something, or maybe it was a newsweek and 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.040 of he said that in Things that Happened this Year, 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.960 Daddy Warbucks Marry is a black Grace Ferrell and nobody cares. 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.200 So I don't know what that's the answer to, but 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.240 it's just an issue of things that you know, you think, 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:50.160 you get to a certain point where you know things 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.760 are changing, and then boom, you're sort of slammed back 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:53.680 into that reality. 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:55.400 What are you in the middle of doing now? 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:00.320 I can't remember you rehearsing some show. Yes, Yes, I've 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:02.720 Got a Lady Day was on the West End. 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:03.599 You're going to go to London. 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:06.640 Yeah, I've never been. No, I've never performed on the 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:07.040 West End. 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:09.479 That's what I mean. You've never performed over there. 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:11.240 Not I performed, but never on the West End. I've 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.200 never I've done like concerts and stuff that I've never 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:13.760 done a show. 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:15.440 You never did a legit show over there? Yeah? 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:16.120 Yeah, yeah. 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:17.960 So what of the places outside of New York have 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.280 you performed? That's an interesting thing to think about. 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:24.600 Well, in terms of like concert work everywhere, but actual shows, 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.720 I've only done, Well, that's not true. I did the 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.760 Secret Garden Tour million years ago. So you do kind 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.120 of a national tour, you go all over the place. No, La, Yeah, 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.960 I did it, but as you know, ensemble member, you know, 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.360 and then I did Masterclass is the only other one 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:41.160 that I did. We did that in LA and at 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.360 the Kennedy Center. We did the taper at the Kennedy 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.960 Center and plays and players in Philadelphia before we came 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:48.880 into New York. But that's been the nineties. 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.680 Do you find that you stay in New York and 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:54.360 try to stay in New York if that's home and 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:55.960 that's easier for you, and well. 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:57.040 Yeah, I mean it is Broadway. 0:07:57.280 --> 0:07:58.800 It's Broadway, and that's where I want to be. Yeah, 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.840 but especially since you know, since having kids, you know, 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:03.760 I mean, do you have no Well, I have a 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.200 six month old, and I have a sixteen year old, 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.360 and I have two step sons who are sixteen and thirteen. 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:14.800 So it's you have a sixteen year old and it's yours, 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:15.640 that's mine. 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:17.760 And you have a six month old that's mine, that's yours. 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.880 Yes, yes, you know what that's like, having a bit 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:21.840 of a spread in between. 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:23.440 You had a kid when you were very young, the 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:24.160 sixteen year. 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.120 Old, Well, that's very kind of you to say. No, 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.880 I was thirty when I had my first and now 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:29.920 I'm forty six. 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:31.200 And you want to have another baby? 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:33.880 I you know, I or you were drunk on a 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:35.040 sailboat your husband? 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:36.360 What happened? Which is it? 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.200 Which is it? It's it's it's somewhere in between. It's 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:44.000 really that the Broncos won the Super Bowl. Seriously, my god, 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:48.080 and my husband is a big Broncos fan, and nine 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:52.440 months later history the rest is Sally James McDonald's wins. Now, yeah, 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:53.839 what are you gonna dow? 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:54.800 Was that for you? 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.840 Because I mean, I don't always want to ask. I 0:08:57.920 --> 0:08:59.880 was saying, how I want to do another show, but 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.360 I don't want to be away at dinner time every night. Yeah, 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.760 for four to six months, that's what's that like? 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:05.880 Do you bring the kids to the theater? 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:08.160 I did, well, I certainly did with my sixteen year old. 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.200 When she was little, she was at the theater all 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:13.720 the time with me. That was kind of the only way. 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:18.400 And I imagine, well, I know for a fact, when 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.640 I'm in London, I'm staying very close to the theater, 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.120 and she'll be at the theater. And and if I 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.040 were to get another Broadway show, I would just bring 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:29.480 her there because you don't want to You don't want 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:31.880 to miss anything, and you don't you don't want to 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:32.559 make them feel like. 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:34.480 What about the baby? 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.160 Yeah, the baby will come. Absolutely, she has to just 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:38.840 be with you right up till the half hour. That's 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:40.880 what I've been doing now this year. You know, since 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:45.040 i've had her, I've started back concertizing and literally I've 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.439 had her backstage with either my husband when he can 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:53.320 join me, or my babysitter, and I will sing and 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.240 then run off stage and nurse her and then you know, 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.240 go do your meet and greet or whatever. And actually 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:00.800 during one concert she was really really fussy, and so 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:03.000 my husband went on and performed, and I ran off 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:05.120 stage and nursed her and called her down and ran 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.400 back on stage. Crazy. Crazy. 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:09.080 Where did you meet him? Your husband? 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.800 We met doing one hundred and ten in the Shade, 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.680 the show on Broadway back in two thousand and seven. Yeah, 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:17.640 it was a long time ago, really, Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.680 it was a crazy time too. I I met him 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:23.760 and then my dad was killed in the plane crash 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.480 like a couple of weeks, like about six weeks later. 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:30.760 Do your dad he was a high school principal that 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:33.000 you grew up in California? Yeah, but you were born 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:34.320 in Germany. I was born in Germany. 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:35.280 What was he doing over there? 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.479 He was in the he was in the army. Yeah, 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.640 and then yeah, I was raised in Fresno, California. My 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:42.240 dad was a high school principal and then he went 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.800 on to become an associate superintendent of schools there. But 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.560 his passion was flying, and he flew small planes and 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:51.400 he had his own and he was he had just 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.400 recently retired and he had his own plane that he 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:59.040 was flying. And yeah, he had where were you that 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:03.000 I was actually walking. I just finished the matinee of 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:04.880 one hundred and in the shape. We were still in previews, 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:09.120 and I was walking with my husband. He wasn't my 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:10.679 husband at the time, he was just a friend at 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:12.800 the time. A bunch of us were walking to meet 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.040 the rest of the cast to have you know, a 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.160 post you know, Sunday matinee drink with the entire cast. 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.040 And my stepmom. 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.920 Called and said her dad was remarried. 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:25.600 Yes, he was remarried. And your mom still yes, my mom, 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.560 she lives next door to me in the city. Yeah, yeah, 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.560 or yeah, in Westchester. When she retired she left town 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:38.120 breath yes, yes, but yeah. My stepmom called me and said, 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:41.160 and I was just I was on fifty third Street 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:45.120 between eighth and ninth Avenues, and it was it was 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.360 It's interesting, you know in those moments, you know, you 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.440 see what happens in film and you think it'll be similar, 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.160 you know, in real life, and it's it seldom is, 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.400 you know, as an act Well, I didn't. I didn't 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:01.600 compute what she was saying. You know, she said, your dad, 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.640 dad had an accident while he was flying the plane 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.200 and he didn't make it. And I kept saying, oh. 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:10.320 I said, okay, so where is he now? And she said, Audra, 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:12.520 he didn't make it. I was like, okay, well where 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.680 is Yeah? But I wasn't. It wasn't computing either, you know, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.960 and I was just really stunned. And it took it 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:23.760 took a day for me to really start to cry, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.559 you know, because it just it ver close to him, yeah, yeah, 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:30.000 very close, and it just wasn't making sense, you know. 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.319 So it's interesting. I mean, it's been ten years on 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:35.800 it'll be ten years actually next week that he's since 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.120 his passing, and but it's just interesting. As an actor, 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:41.240 this sounds so cold and callous and it's not. It's 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:43.000 not meant to be. But as an actor, there was 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:44.960 a part of me that was sort of floating away 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.720 from my body watching the scene, going, I don't think 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.120 you're having the right reaction, right, you know, I don't 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.000 think process. Yeah, yeah, that's not you know, if this 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.160 were a scene you'd fall to the ground and you know, 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.319 break into a million pieces, and you're not doing that. 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.360 You're you're playing the scene. It's so strange. But actually 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:04.960 I know exactly when I really started to cry about 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:09.120 my dad's passing and it was I I found out. 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:11.240 We were getting ready to open one hundred and ten 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:12.880 in the Shade, and so we're getting ready to go 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.240 into critics Week where critics are coming and they're saying 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.800 I'm saying I have to go, and they're saying, you're 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:20.080 the star of the show. You can't leave as I 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.280 have to. And so they canceled a couple of shows 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.040 so I could fly home to California. 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:27.840 This is for their father's funeral. Yeah, they said, you 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:28.319 can't leave. 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:30.680 Well know, they were just they were like, how do 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:32.320 we do this? You know? And actually it was at 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:34.920 the end of it was like right at Tony, what's 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:37.440 it called it? When it's the cutoff time? Qualification time? 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.559 So everybody was like, what do we do? So they 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:42.839 were kind enough to cancel enough shows for me to 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.240 run home for the funeral and trying to work that 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.640 out with my stepmom who was devastated and you know, 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.600 really broken, and trying to keep her together and keep 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:54.200 the family together and figure it all out. And it 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.840 wasn't until after the funeral you're saying hello to everybody. 0:13:57.840 --> 0:13:59.760 And I just kind of kept it together the whole time. 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.160 And then as soon as I agreed it like the 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:05.440 thirtieth person or something here, like a thousand people at 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:08.200 his funeral. He was very, very well known and very 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:14.040 loved in Fresno, California. And his older sister came and said, 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:14.640 how you doing. 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:18.880 And that's when I lost it, when you emptied out. 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:20.800 I emptied out. But it was you know, But once again, 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.960 that's not how I mean. Maybe maybe a good director, 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:25.880 but that's not how I just imagine the film. 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:26.600 It was an actress. 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.720 You're always controlling and managing your feelings. Anyway, there was 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.360 the lovers and knobs and dials inside of us. They 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:33.880 was in there playing with all the yes. 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:35.480 Of course that we get paid for. You know. 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:38.440 So you moved to Fresno when you grew up in 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:39.800 Fresno beginning at what age? 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:41.320 I was nine months old? 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:43.080 To me, here's your little baby. So you're a child. 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:46.600 And so there's the Order of McDonald who grows up 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.960 in California. Yeah, there's the Order of McDonald, who now 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:54.040 is one of the princesses of the Broadway Theater. There's 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.440 like a Mount Rushmore. It's you and burned Itad and 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:58.640 all these chicks. Now, who are these the greatest singers 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.640 in the world, and I want to talk about the 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:05.280 order in between. So the order in between when you 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.160 first started into the business, when people are hiring you, 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.680 and as you're building your career in New York and singing, 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:12.480 what were they hiring you for? 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:15.520 Well, I think it had more to do with if 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:17.320 I look back on it now, and no one's ever 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:21.480 asked me this, So kudos to you. Well, I do try, 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:26.480 You've got the talent, but I think it had more 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:31.960 to do with I wasn't what people were expecting, you know, 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.520 back in those days. Can I say back in those days, yeah, 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.400 the early nineties. You know, you'd go an audition for 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:40.920 something and they'd see an African American girl in her 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.160 twenties walk in, and I think they'd expect some big 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.080 gospel voice, or you know, they're like, can you be 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:48.840 street smart? You know all those code words and whatnot, 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.240 and I would sort of break out with the pseudo 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:56.200 operatic voice that had Broadway qualities and was a bit goofy, 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.440 and so I think it just intrigued people and anything. 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:02.360 I think that's even how I got into Juilliard. When 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.560 I auditioned for Juilliard and I wasn't you know, I 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:07.080 wasn't really wanting to pursue classical music, but I thought, 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:09.800 I'll audition on the strength of my voice. That's that's 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:10.520 my strength. 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:12.040 Was that a goal to go to Juilliard? 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.000 Well, I wanted to go to New York. I wanted 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.120 to live in New York Juilliard. Was it Lincoln Center, 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:17.000 you know, you know. 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:18.240 The good beginning. 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:20.640 Yeah, And I thought I'd be able to get like 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:22.800 my acting classes in nancing class as well. I was there. 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:25.040 I didn't realize that once you're in a program, once 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:29.320 you're in department, you know, you shall not stray. You 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.560 stay in that department, and you know, so I just 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:34.200 went in there an audition, didn't really know what I 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:36.240 was doing, and kind of riffed at the end of 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.600 a Mozart area. You're not supposed to rift with Mozart, 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:40.720 and I did. And I said, I was a meto 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:44.000 soprano and I'm singing subrette, you know, roles for them, 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:46.600 showing them. I sang a subrette Aria from the note 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:48.120 to figure out maryagifigure out. 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.240 And so for people who don't know what subrette is, 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:51.720 what is that? I'm one of those people. 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.560 By the way you, Dorett, Well, Subrette is sort of 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:58.080 like a really high light soprano, not necessarily coloratura, but 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.960 she's like a young, sweet heroin hype lighter sound, not 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:08.040 like a full lyric soprano. And so it's a lot 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:10.600 of people say the ena roles despina, or it's theerlena, 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.720 the little cute roles. So anyway, that's what I sang. 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:15.280 I sang one of those arias. But then I said 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.239 I'm a mezzo soprano, which I just was just that 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.320 just showed how much I didn't know, how little I do. 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.160 And they laughed at me and they said how old 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.760 are you And I said I'm seventeen and they just 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.439 said okay, And I thought, well, I blew that. And 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.600 then two weeks later they called me and said we 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:35.440 want you to come to Juilliard. But I don't think 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:37.640 I think it was just intrigue on their part. 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:41.479 Are you there for four years? Well, would you start working? 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:44.879 No? I was there for five years, but. 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:46.360 You finished there, you graduated from there? 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.760 Yeah, I took a leave of absence because I had 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.240 a suicide attempt actually while I was there, So I 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.040 took a leave of absence there's a lot that happened 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.480 between the Order and Fresnor, California and the Order who's 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:56.360 on Broadway. 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.040 Now, okay, we're going to cover as much of that 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:00.200 as you care to time. 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:01.719 I'm completely open about it. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.000 So you're in Juilliard, Yeah, what years was that? That 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:07.240 five years was from when to when? 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:09.280 It was from nineteen eighty eight to nineteen ninety three. 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.960 Right, So when you're there, was it trouble for you 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.240 fitting in? Did you feel uncomfortable and out of place? 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:15.480 There? 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:17.960 Absolutely was that a part of what led you to 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:18.600 do what you did. 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.360 Yeah, I felt out of place artistically. I felt all 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.480 my life growing up in Prest, California, all I ever 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.680 wanted to do was beyond Broadway. And then I thought, 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.440 you know, let me audition for Juilliard. Just didn't think 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.600 it through audition, got in. So everybody back at home 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.480 is like, wow, Udra got into Juilliard in New York. 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:37.800 She's you know, she's gonna make it. And then I 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.199 get to Juilliard and I'm studying classical music. I'm like, 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:41.399 this isn't what I want to do. I don't want 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:43.560 to be an apt for singer. Why surely they're going 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:45.919 to let me go take some acting classes, surely go 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:47.639