Audra McDonald Pens Passionate Essay About Childhood, DREAMGIRLS & Patti LuPone

Audra McDonald reflects on her childhood, theatre memories and more!

Six-time Tony Award-winning Broadway royalty Audra McDonald shares stories from her childhood as part of a fascinating new essay for the Wall Street Journal.

McDonald writes, "I was a latchkey kid. After my parents bought a house in Fresno, Calif., in 1972, they often worked into the early evening, which meant I had to become responsible pretty fast. Or let's just say I did my best."

McDonald shares of her childhood obsessions, "On the driveway, I used to hit a tennis ball against the garage door pretending to be Donna Summer 's daughter no one knew about. On my bedroom walls, I had pictures of Broadway shows, like "Dreamgirls," and photos of Patti LuPone. I loved her. But the best part of my room was the tiny walk-in closet. When my cousins came over, my sister would join us and we'd all put on shows. The closet was backstage, where you got ready. When the show began, you'd bust out through the doors to perform."

As for her first theatre memories, McDonald adds, "I joined the Good Company Players' junior company in 1980 when I was 9 and made the leap to the adult program fairly quickly. Even though I was excelling, I couldn't come home from school with a C. Even a B would elicit a "What happened here?" My father, Stanley, was a high-school principal in Fresno, and my mother, Anna, was a college administrator at Fresno State. If my grades dropped, things that I loved would be taken away. When I was in the sixth grade, they pulled me out of theater due to a C in reading. That never happened again."

Check out the entire essay here.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride & WSJ