Audra McDonald Sings for GMHC
Three-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald will give a special benefit performance at Town Hall for Gay Men’s Health Crisis on June 12 at 8pm. McDonald, whose most recent recording, How Glory Goes, debuted on the Billboard pop charts in March, will be performing a concert produced especially for GMHC. This will be her only New York appearance on her spring concert tour.
“I am very happy that this show will benefit Gay Men’s Health Crisis, an organization that is doing so much for people with AIDS,” McDonald says. “It is important that we all do what we can to help fight this epidemic.”
A Tony winner for her performances in Ragtime, Master Class, and Carousel, McDonald appeared most recently in the title role of Michael John LaChiusa’s Marie Christine at Lincoln Center Theater, for which she received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She will perform the role of the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd with George Hearn and Patti LuPone at Avery Fisher Hall in May, under the auspices of the New York Philharmonic.
“We are so excited that Audra McDonald will be donating her amazing talent in support of GMHC,” says the organization’s executive director, Ana Oliveira. “We are able to continue our work largely through the support of friends like Audra. This promises to be an exciting evening for a good cause.”
McDonald’s Town Hall concert will include songs from her critically acclaimed albums How Glory Goes and Way Back to Paradise (both released on Nonesuch) along with new and classic Broadway repertoire. The Boston Globe said of her most recording, “If anyone is going to deliver the Broadway song into the 21st century, it is McDonald.”
Event co-chairs for “An Evening with Audra McDonald” are Terrence McNally, Bill Butler, and Jordan Roth. Sponsors are Jordan Roth, Denise Rich, Paul G. DeVido, Atlantic Records, Nonesuch Records, The Gersh Agency, and United Airlines.
Concert tickets–priced at $35, $45, $60, and $75–are available through Ticketmaster at 212-307-4100. Benefit level seating begins at $150. Tickets at $250, $500, and $1000 include a post-concert reception with McDonald at the historic Hudson Theater. All benefit level tickets can be purchased directly from GMHC Special Events at 212-367-1514.
Proceeds from An Evening with Audra McDonald will benefit Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the nation’s oldest and largest AIDS organization. GMHC provides direct services to thousands of men, women, and children with HIV and AIDS, educates the public about HIV prevention and treatment, and advocates for fair and effective policies and legislation at all levels of government
