Audra McDonald on Stephen Sondheim, “Gypsy,” and Being Black on Broadway

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2024

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

The actress stars as Rose in a Broadway revival of “Gypsy.” She shares that, throughout her career, some people have been upset when she plays characters conceived for white actors.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Listener supported WNYC Studios.
0:10.8	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:23.7	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.
0:31.0	The show Gypsy, an early work by Stephen Sondheim, is sometimes called the greatest of American musicals.
0:33.8	A new production on Broadway is a real event.
0:38.8	All the more so when a star like Audrera McDonald is in the lead role of Rose,
0:44.9	a complicated stage mother with outsized ambitions for her daughters. Rose has been called,
0:49.1	and I think it's only half joking, the King Lear of Musical Theater.
0:54.2	Audra McDonald has won six Tonys as an actor and plays as well as musicals,
1:00.0	and she joined us at the New Yorker Festival in October as the cast of Gypsy was getting ready for previews.
1:02.2	Here's staff writer Michael Short.
1:06.9	Audrey, thanks so much for being here. I know you're deep in rehearsal.
1:09.6	Yeah, we're in week four of rehearsals right now.
1:11.8	How's it going? What did you guys do like today?
1:21.6	We started the day working on everything's coming up roses. And then after lunch, we did roses turn. So that's how my day's gone today. That's intense. It's very intense. Very intense.
1:28.0	Yeah.
1:28.7	Wow.
1:29.4	Has this been a long dream of yours, goal of yours to play Rose?
1:33.9	Or was it something that came up more recently?
1:35.9	Like, how did this start for you?
1:38.3	I mean, was it a longtime dream of mine?
1:41.5	No.
	...

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