Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pregnant Audra McDonald to Take Break from Broadway’s ‘Shuffle Along’

Actress Audra McDonald attends the Roundabout Theatre Company 2016 Spring Gala at The Waldorf-Astoria on February 29, 2016 in New York City.
Actress Audra McDonald attends the Roundabout Theatre Company 2016 Spring Gala at The Waldorf-Astoria on February 29, 2016 in New York City.

*Audra McDonald, 45, will shuffle away from her role in Broadway’s “Shuffle Along” during the summer and fall months, because she is having a baby.

The six-time Tony winner on Tuesday announced she is expecting and will take maternity leave from the musical beginning on July 24. She’ll return to the Tony Award-nominated production this winter.

Her show explores the groundbreaking 95-year-old musical “Shuffle Along,” one of the first Broadway shows starring, written and directed by African-Americans and the first show with a jazz score.

“Who knew that tap dancing during perimenopause could lead to pregnancy? Will and I are completely surprised— and elated — to be expecting a new addition to our family,” McDonald said.

She added that she looked “forward to setting up a 1920s-themed nursery in my dressing room when I return to the show.”

In her absence, the role of Lottie Gee will be played by Grammy Award-winner Rhiannon Giddens. The production also said Savion Glover, the show’s choreographer, will step into the musical.

Audra McDonald and her husband, fellow Broadway actor Will Swenson
Audra McDonald and her husband, fellow Broadway actor Will Swenson

McDonald and her husband, actor Will Swenson, married in 2012. She has a daughter and he is a father to two sons from previous marriages.

 

Due to the stork’s impending arrival, McDonald also had to postpone taking her “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” to London.

 

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