Tony winning actor and singer Audra McDonald will be in performance tonight at 7:30 at the UCA Reynolds Performance Hall.

Audra Ann McDonald didn’t waste any time starting her career. She made her Broadway debut as a replacement in The Secret Garden while she was still in school at Juilliard, won three Tony awards in five years, and, at age 27, became the first person to win three before the age of 30.

She has appeared on the stage in both musicals and dramas, including leading roles in Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, Master Class and Carousel. Her first starring role on Broadway was in Marie Christine, written specifically for her by Michael John LaChiusa after he saw her audition for Carousel. In 2007 she starred in 110 in the Shade on Broadway and joined the cast of Private Practice as Dr. Naomi Bennett, and spent the first 9 months of 2012 singing Bess in Porgy and Bess on Broadway. She has won five Tony Awards, sharing the record for most Tonys won by an actor with Julie Harris and Angela Lansbury.

McDonald has released five solo albums and appeared as a vocalist on many others.  In October her TV appearances ranged from Great Performances to “The Colbert Report.”  This December she will play the Mother Abbess in the live TV production of The Sound of Music.