Broadway superwoman Audra McDonald has to be the busiest woman in show business – on stage and off. Previously, we told you about her performance at “A Celebration of American Creativity: In Performance at the White House, ” and we also told you that she’ll be starring with Brian Stokes Mitchell and Billy Porter in the upcoming musical revue “Shuffle Along, Or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed” set to open in 2016. As if preparing for that role wasn’t enough, McDonald is currently filming an adaptation of Michael John LaChiusa’s musical Hello Again.
The musical was originally produced off-Broadway by Lincoln Center Theatre in 1994 and is inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s 1897 play La Ronde: Hello Again. The original production earned eight Drama Desk nominations including Best Musical.
McDonald joins an all-star ensemble that includes Martha Plimpton, T.R. Knight, Tyler Blackburn, and Rumer Willis. The story follows “10 lost souls who skip across 10 periods in New York City history, slipping in and out of one another’s arms and beds in a daisy-chained exploration of lust’s bittersweet embrace of love. Its central characters are the Whore, the Nurse, the College Boy, the Young Wife, the Husband, the Young Thing, the Writer, the Actress and the Senator.”
Ash Christian, Tom Gustafson, Cory Krueckeberg, and Hunter Arnold are producing the film. Krueckebert wrote the screenplay and Michael John LaChiusa provided the music and lyrics. The film has already begun production in New York.
McDonald is no stranger to the big screen as she recently appeared alongside Academy Award winner Meryl Streep in “Ricki and the Flash.” She’s also appeared in “Seven Servants,” “The Object of My Affection,” “Cradle Will Rock,” “It Runs in the Family,” “Rampart,” and “The Best Thief in the World.” McDonald will also provide the voice of “Garderobe” in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” slated for release in 2017.
