Lyrics & Lyricists Downtown at 92Y Features Michael John LaChiusa With Moderator Audra McDonald Tonight

Details are set for the next Lyrics & Lyricists Downtown, the L&L series at 92YTribeca. Tonight, April 15, this one-night-only event features a conversation with Tony Award-nominated lyricist composer and librettist Michael John LaChiusa.

LaChiusa's credits include Giant, Queen of the Mist, See What I Wanna See and Marie Christine. Joining him as moderator is five-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, who has starred in several of his works and included his songs on her CDs Way Back To Paradise and Happy Songs. The conversation - touching on LaChiusa's significant works and his songwriting process - is punctuated by songs with vocalists TBA.

Lyrics & Lyricists Downtown features one-night-only events with songwriters working in today's musical theater, bringing the legendary American Songbook series - running since 1970 - to the intimate, nightclub-style mainstage at 92YTribeca.

Musical theater/opera composer, lyricist and librettist LaChiusa is best known for such Broadway shows as Marie Christine (starring Audra McDonald) and The Wild Party - both Tony Award-nominated in 2000 for score and book. In 1995 he received a Best Book of a Musical Tony nomination for his work on Chronicle of a Death Foretold. His off-Broadway credits include the Lincoln Center Theatre-produced musical Hello Again (nominated for 10 Drama Desk awards, including three - Outstanding Book of a Musical, Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics - for LaChiusa), Little Fish, See What I Wanna See (Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics), Queen of the Mist and most recently Giant, based on the Edna Ferber best-seller, which ended its run at The Public Theater last month. An original cast recording is expected to be released this spring.

With a record-tying five Tony Awards (Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess), Audra McDonald is among today's most highly regarded performers. The Juilliard graduate is as much at home on Broadway and opera stages as she is on film and television. In addition to her theatrical work, she maintains a high-profile career as a concert and Grammy Award-winning recording artist, regularly appearing on the great stages of the world and with leading international orchestras. In 1999, she created the title role in the premiere of Michael John LaChiusa's musical Marie Christine.