Audra McDonald Talks to Gavin Creel Every Night Before Gypsy

"Congratulations, babe, you got nominated!"

That's how six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald—currently delivering a monumental performance as the indomitable stage mother Rose in the George C. Wolfe-directed revival of Gypsy—was awakened May 1, the day Tony nominations were announced.

"My incredible husband [Will Swenson] came in and woke me up �� and that's how I found out," a joyful McDonald told �뵺�� that same morning.

McDonald, whose 11th nomination makes her the most Tony-nominated performer in the history of the Tony Awards, said she was overwhelmed by the news. "All of it's overwhelming," the stage and screen star explained. "From the beginning of my connection to this role—through [late Tony winner] Gavin [Creel] saying, 'You should be playing this'—to it taking a long time to come to fruition, to it happening, and to [director] George Wolfe taking the wheel and making our production one that we can really make our own. All of it has been an incredible journey. I'm filled with gratitude, [but] the nomination record, I can't process that. That's too much for me to process."

READ: How George C. Wolfe Continues to Push Audiences (and Himself) Out of Their Comfort Zone

Danny Burstein, Joy Woods, and Audra McDonald in *Gypsy* Julieta Cervantes

What she could process, however, was her complete delight for fellow Tony-nominated co-stars Joy Woods, who plays the beleaguered Louise who becomes strip sensation Gypsy Rose Lee, and Danny Burstein, who plays put-upon agent Herbie. "I'm so thrilled for them!" McDonald exclaimed. "They're just the best. The whole company is so special and just ego free. There is not one single, solitary ego that shows up backstage or on stage. Everybody is there for the show, there for the story, and there for this moment. That's because we're all being led by the incredible George Wolfe. It's just been a beautiful labor of love the entire time. And again, not one ego, so it's a company filled with love and trust and play. The fact that Danny and Joy were recognized in this way—and [choreographer] Camille [A. Brown]—I mean, it just fills my heart."

READ: In Gypsy, Joy Woods Is Stepping Into Her Power

McDonald, known for her jaw-droppingly rich performances over the past three decades, has never been more powerful than she is in this Tony-nominated revival at the Majestic Theatre. The seemingly endless well of emotions from which she draws is never more evident than in the showstoppers that end each act of Gypsy. Rose's desperation is heartbreakingly palpable in both “Everything’s Coming up Roses�� and “Rose’s Turn��; in fact, her performance in the latter is so volcanic, one wonders how she can give so much to every audience.

"The main challenge has been the energy and the stamina to do it eight times a week," McDonald admitted. "This is mammoth, especially on two-show days. There is something about finishing the show with 'Rose's Turn' in that final scene—which is a very emotional scene—especially on Wednesdays. Then you walk off stage, and you take your bow. I eat a little bit of food, I have PT, and then I have about 20 minutes before I have to suit up and go through it again. Those days," she adds with a laugh, "I have to remind myself that I love my job and I love what I do! But I've never had a harder time with a turnaround than with this role, just because 'Rose's Turn' takes everything out of me. I barely have oxygen left after that, so then to turn around and start that journey again sometimes is very, very difficult. So I think that's the hardest part is just stamina."

Audra McDonald, Joy Woods, and George C. Wolfe Jenny Anderson

For those who have seen Gypsy before (and for those who haven't), one of the innumerable joys of this production is hearing the audience's vocal reactions—often audible gasps—to some of Rose's more shocking actions.

McDonald says she, too, relishes those moments. "You have to stay in it, but I love it! I love hearing that reaction [after] 'I'm gonna make you a star!' And then the reaction sometimes, when I say, 'My daughter can do it.' One night, a woman yelled back, 'No!' Like yelled back! And I loved that, too. First of all, it tells me [audiences are] listening. It tells me they're invested. And I like that we're introducing the show to some people. Some people don't know the show. If you're a theatre kid like us, it's hard to imagine that: 'What do you mean you don't know this scene?' But there's lots of people out there that don't know it. So it's wonderful to know that you're introducing this story to them.

"The other night, at the end of 'Rose's Turn,'" McDonald continued, "I heard something I'd never heard before. When she spots Louise, and the applause dies down, and she kind of gets out of her fantasy stupor of thinking that she's on a stage somewhere, accepting applause. In that quiet moment before Rose moves and decides to say something to Louise, there was a woman in the front row who was like, 'It's okay, take your time.' She wanted to make sure that Rose was okay before Rose spoke. And even that was moving to me in a way. I loved that. I love that there are people that we are introducing this story to. That means a lot to me."

What does McDonald believe she has learned about herself, either as a person or an actress, by playing this role that was created by Ethel Merman—and subsequently brought to life by Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters, and Patti LuPone?

"That's an interesting question," McDonald answered. "I don't think anyone's ever asked me that, I mean, in quite that way, so thank you. I am learning to give myself more grace, and I think it's because I'm in my 50s now and and I've been doing this a long time. I think I was so hard on myself in my younger years. I'm still working my butt off and trying to learn every minute of every day, but I'm also almost looking at the mistakes and the imperfections as a gift to help me learn something more, because I can look back on earlier years and say, 'No, no, no, but that mistake led you to that discovery. And that mistake led you to that discovery'—not even mistake, just imperfection, whatever. I think, because Rose, in some ways, isn't allowed much grace. No one gives her that much grace until the one person who will actually save her, until Louise gives her that grace. So I think that's what I've learned from Rose, too, is that Rose needed grace and was finally given it from Louise. I am now giving myself grace as a reflection of learning that from Rose."

Circling back to McDonald's earlier reference to late Broadway favorite Gavin Creel, McDonald also shared, "I've got lots of pictures in my dressing room, but I have two pictures on my mirror. One is of Gavin, and one is of my my littlest child, Sally. And so I talk to Gavin every night before I go out on stage, every night. I won't share what happened, but something happened last night on stage for the first time, and I know in my own heart that that was a message from Gavin. I know he sent me a little message in a way that only Gavin can. And so I feel him. I feel him every minute."

Audra McDonald, Will Swenson, Diane Paulus and Gavin Creel A.R.T.

During this brief Tony nominations chat, McDonald also spoke about the importance of art and theatre in such difficult times in this country and around the world.

"Thank God for theatre," she said with both a fervor and warmth in her voice. "I think theatre shows us who other people are, and by seeing them and seeing their stories, we learn more about ourselves, and then we realize that those people over there are not as far away as they seem. They're actually more like me than I realized. It brings us closer to our humanity. It gets us in touch with our empathy, which, good God, we need right now in this country. When you hear people out there saying, 'Don't commit the sin of empathy.' What? No, we need empathy. We need humanity. We need to be in touch with our humanity. We need to learn about different cultures, different people, different worlds, different experiences, different reactions to similar or shared experiences, all of it.

"So thank God for art. Thank God for theatre."