Tonight I sat less than 30 feet away from one of the greatest voices I have ever heard in my life. This voice belongs to Audra McDonald and I was in the Hale Center Theater in Orem. She is performing in 110 in the Shade for a limited two week engagement as a fundraiser. After hearing her voice on the soundtrack to 110 in the Shade (as well as the three other cds of hers that I own) I was blown away. She sang her first song (Love, Don't Turn away) with true heart and passion and received thunderous applause for her effort. About half way through the first act, the audio track stopped working. They stopped the show for 10 minutes and then continued with nothing but piano accompaniment. They made one joke then continued on in a professional manner. The sound came back on about 25 minutes later. My favorite songs were Raunchy, Old Maid, and Simple Little Things. Despite these words of praise, words cannot truly express how I felt and how I was lifted up by hearing her singing. My heart was full of joy. During the intermission I hummed all the music while reading through the program. After 5 minutes, a woman leaned over to me and asked how many times I had seen the show. I told her that this was my first time but I had almost all the music memorized. She laughed, complimented me on my humming abilities, and then I proceeded to gush about Audra and her other cds. She received a standing ovation at the end of the show (oh, and the other people in the cast were amazing as well.) A friend of mine, Melissa Lindsey, was in the show and did a great job.After the show I waited by the door for her to come out and was able to get my 110 in the Shade cd signed and get my picture taken with her. As a side note, she said that she loved my necklace (Monopoly necklace as seen in the picture below) and mentioned that her daughter would have loved it as well. She was lovely and gracious as she could be. I will now have to buy myself another ticket for next week. If any of you have the opportunity to get a ticket, do so immediately.
As an interesting side note, I ran into a friend of Alison and Jordan's. I have met Amelia several times (their wedding, Caleb's birth and funeral, Isaac's birth, tree decorating, etc) and we compared our love for Audra McDonald. She drove down from Salt Lake to see the show.
