Tony-Award winner to star in Hale Center show

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While other kids her age were listening to Wham! or Duran Duran, Audra McDonald was listening to music from "Fiddler on the Roof," "Oklahoma," "Dream Girls"and other theatrical hits, all thanks to what she calls her roots in community theater.

It was at a dinner theater, Good Company Players in Fresno, Calif., that the winner of four Tony Awards and two Grammys discovered her talent, she said.

Since her first show at 10 years of age in the chorus of "The King and I," the Broadway and TV actor has gone on to perform before thousands.

On Sunday, during an eight-hour trip to Utah to promote a Hale Center Theater Orem's summer show "110 in the Shade" in which she will reprise her role of Lizzy, McDonald spoke about her fondness and familiarity of community theater.

"I find that the tiny intimate spaces keep you honest," she said during an interview at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. "You can't get away with a lot because everyone can see your every move ... I enjoy that."

McDonald and boyfriend actor, member of Utah's Hale family, Will Swenson, will perform the lead roles for the first two weeks of the production, June 28 through July 10. After that, the show will continue until Aug. 7 with local actors in lead roles.

The musical, which the two actors did on Broadway in 2007, is being produced at the 300-seat theater as a fundraiser. The two actors are donating their time to the Hale Center Foundation for the Arts and Education.

"You need to support the arts in your community," McDonald said. "Especially in this day and age when the arts are taking a back seat in schools because of money not being available."

Their participation on the show has some of the Hale staff "still pinching" themselves. Swenson's brother, Cody and his wife Anne, who now run Hale Theater, went to New York to see the Broadway production during its run.

Will Swenson suggested Hale do "110 in the Shade" because its "feel-good theme" would resonate with patrons. The staff agreed. Anne Swenson remembers suggesting McDonald do a master class or workshop for the run. Instead McDonald responded with the two-week appearance.

"I'm very close with the Swenson family and I've been dating Will for a while. We wanted to do something to help his family's theater," McDonald said. "We egotistically said, 'Well why don't we come out and star in it for a while.'"

The two carved out the time in their schedules. McDonald is constantly on the move between her job in California as Dr. Naomi Bennett on ABC's "Private Practice," musical performances across the country and her home in New York with her 9-year-old daughter.

Swenson, who also resides in New York with his two children, is working in London. He received a Tony nomination last year for his performance as Berger in the Broadway revival of "Hair." He is remembered by Utah audiences for his performances in Mormon Cinema roles, starring in "The Singles Ward" and "The R.M.," and directing and starring in "Sons of Provo," a parody of "Spinal Tap."

"We're excited. I think it will be fun," McDonald said of doing the show again. "It's a beautiful part of the country to be in. And it's going to be a nice sort of summer vacation."