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VIDEO: Audra McDonald and Will Swenson Sing LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY Theme Song

By: Aug. 02, 2015
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Untitled from Will Swenson on Vimeo.



Broadway husband and wife Will Swenson and Audra McDonald recently filmed themselves singing a seemingly random duet- the theme song from the hit '70s show LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY. Check out the fun a capella performance, made for Broadway Sleepout, below!

Click here to visit Swenson's Broadway Sleep Out page to support homeless youth at Covant House.

Audra McDonald is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry, as both a singer and an actress. With a record six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and a long list of other accolades to her name, she is among today's most highly regarded performers.

McDonald received her classical vocal training at the Juilliard School. A year after graduating, she won her first Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for Carousel at Lincoln Center Theater. She received two additional TONY AWARDS in the featured actress category over the next four years for her performances in the Broadway premieres of Terrence McNally's Master Class (1996) and his musical Ragtime (1998), earning her an unprecedented three TONY AWARDS before the age of 30. In 2004 she won her fourth Tony, starring alongside Sean "Diddy" Combs in A Raisin in the Sun, and in 2012 she won her fifth-and her first in the leading actress category-for her role in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. In 2014 she made Broadway history and became the Tony Awards' most decorated performer when she won her sixth award for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill. In addition to setting the record for most competitive wins by an actor, she also became the first person to receive awards in all four acting categories. McDonald's other theater credits include The Secret Garden (1993), Marie Christine (1999), Henry IV (2004), 110 in the Shade (2007), and her Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park debut in Twelfth Night alongside Anne Hathaway and Raúl Esparza (2009).

McDonald made her opera debut in 2006 at Houston Grand Opera, where she starred in a double bill: Poulenc's monodrama La voix humaine and the world premiere of its companion piece, Send, written by one of McDonald's frequent collaborators, Michael John LaChiusa. She made her Los Angeles Opera debut in 2007 starring alongside Patti LuPone in John Doyle's production of Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The resulting recording won McDonald two Grammy Awards, for Best Opera Recording and Best Classical Album.

A familiar face on PBS, McDonald has headlined telecasts including an American Songbook season-opening concert, a presentation of Sondheim's Passion, a Rodgers and Hammerstein tribute concert titled Something Wonderful, and five galas with the New York Philharmonic: a New Year's Eve performance in 2006, a concert celebrating Sondheim's 80th birthday, Carnegie Hall's 120th anniversary concert, One Singular Sensation! Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch, and, most recently, Sweeney Todd. She was also featured in the PBS television special, A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House, singing at the request of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. McDonald has appeared three times on the Kennedy Center Honors; been profiled by 60 Minutes, Today, PBS NewsHour, and CBS Sunday Morning; been a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the Colbert Report, Charlie Rose, CBS This Morning, NewsNation with Tamron Hall, POLITICSNATION with Al Sharpton, Iron Chef America, the Megan Mullally Show, the Rosie O'Donnell Show, the TAVIS SMILEY Show, and the Wendy Williams Show; and has guest co-hosted on THE VIEW with Barbara Walters. In 2012, McDonald was named the new official host of the PBS series Live From Lincoln Center, which earned her a third Emmy nomination.

Of all her many roles, her favorites are the ones performed offstage: wife to her husband and mother to her daughter, Zoe Madeline.

Will Swenson is an American actor, writer and film director best known for his work in musical theatre. He also has developed a film career, primarily in Mormon cinema.

A grandson of Nathan and Ruth Hale, a playwright and actress, Will Swenson was born in Utah and moved around a lot throughout the United States during his childhood. He attended Brigham Young University and later served as a Mormon missionary in Ecuador. However, he is no longer a practicing Mormon.

Swenson appeared on Broadway in Lestat, 110 in the Shade and Brooklyn. Off-Broadway, he played the role of Stacee Jaxx in the musical Rock of Ages but did not go on to perform the role on Broadway because he was offered the starring role of Berger in the Broadway revival of Hair. He played Sir Sagramore in Camelot at Lincoln Center and Chris in the second national tour of Miss Saigon.

He played the role of Berger in the Off-Broadway 40th Anniversary Concert of Hair opposite Karen Olivo. In 2008, Swenson was again cast as Berger in The Public Theater's revival of the show in Central Park. He went on to reprise the role when the production moved to Broadway in March 2009. He received critical acclaim for his performance on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. He played the role of Berger again in the West End revival of Hair which began performances on April 1, 2010, and ended his limited engagement on May 29, 2010. Audra McDonald and Swenson reprised their roles in 110 in the Shade in the Hale Center Theater Orem's production.

On October 8, 2009, Swenson appeared as in the guest cameo slot for the extension performance of Katie Thompson's R.R.R.E.D.: A Secret Musical, as part of the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. In 2010, Swenson played the lead role of "Tick"/"Mitzi" in the pre-Broadway North American company of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert in Toronto, Canada.

In October 2013, Swenson was cast as Inspector Javert in the 2014 Broadway revival of LES MISERABLES, which opened in March 2014 at New York's Imperial Theatre, where the musical had previously run for 13 years.

Swenson and Audra McDonald became engaged in January 2012 and were married on October 6, 2012.




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