Yes, that's Audra McDonald. Though I know she's become famous for plenty of TV and recording work, I first fell in love with her when I was 16 and she starred in "Ragtime." It's my all time favorite musical and I was beyond excited to see her perform on my birthday in "Porgy and Bess." The experience didn't disappoint.
As an added bonus, the role of Porgy was played by Norm Lewis, himself a Broadway icon. He played an amazing Javert in "Les Miserables" a few years ago (and revived the role for the TV recording of the Les Miz 25th anniversary concert in London, which plays often on PBS), and he originated the role of King Triton in the musical version of "The Little Mermaid." I loved the score for TLM, and Norm sang one of my favorite songs from the show.
As you can probably tell from the above photos, I got the chance to meet the two stars after the show. They were nice enough to sign my program and talk for a bit with those of us milling around outside. They were both very kind and generous with their time and, if possible, I walked away loving them both even more.
After talking to Audra, I had absolutely no idea what I had said. Fortunately, Cory got a bit of it on video, so I can now say affirmatively that I sounded like a complete idiot. I blame giddiness. I've also added a few clips below of Audra and Norm performing two different songs from the musical. In the first, pay attention to how Sherri Shepherd looks once they're done singing. That's pretty much how I looked the entire show. There was mucho weeping.
