Added: 3 years ago
From: G4Rat
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  • Go see her in "porgy and Bess "!

    Brilliant performance and show!

  • She's literally flawless. I can't get enough.

  • I love this woman, song, and musical!

  • She's also incredibly nice and down to earth in person. She's delightful - she is really one of my favorite human beings on the planet. Every time I've seen her in concert, she seems like someone who would be awesome to just know in person - she seems like the kind of person who brings kindness to everyone they meet, in addition to being spectacularly talented.

  • My Gawd... that's all I can say ...

  • I am getting goosebumps! WOOOOO!

  • Oh my god her voice is so beautiful. And that one part where she belts! That is the way it's done; belt sounds amazing but not when you've got a person belting EVERY SINGLE LINE. Arg. I can't stop playing this song!

  • My vocal instructor would have me listen to Audra MCdonald albums in order to observe her amazing techniques. The lady is incredible!

  • well here comes the chills and tears.....

  • 4 dislikes?! you have got to be kidding me. this woman is amazing and so talented. beautiful voice.

  • i get to see her preform tomorrow, i'm the luckiest girl in the world

  • Wow.... absolutely beautiful.

  • My mom said when she saw this performance, she cried because it was so beautiful.

  • I saw this production with all of the original cast at 10 years old and it is probably one of the best moments (and one of my most vivid memories to at a young age) of my life. Audra McDonald has four Tonys and is on her march to legend, but if someone were to ask me "Why is she so loved?"....all I would say is watch this video. A vocal and acting performance that is probably among the best ever in the history of theatre. Ragtime itself is a masterpiece of a show, too.

  • That was probably the best performance I've ever watched in my life. So real and genuine. Made me cry! I can't imagine how much more amazing that must have been live. Just WOW. Not much talent like that anymore.

  • Audra. Marry me.

  • dumbasses she belts in this song!

  • @MrDannyBeau No reason to be rude. She does belt in this song. But she isn't belting the top notes. They are mixed.

  • it is so upsetting that this is the only video of her singing this song. She is absolutely brilliant.

  • Classic. Talented. Amazing. I miss her on Broadway...

  • @gerardm2002 She's performing here in November! But there's way too many things to see here. West Side Story next month, Peter Pan in November, Memphis in February, Les Miserables in April, and the Lion King in June and July.

  • @circusm139 I'll have to make time for that! Thanks for the info...

  • @gerardm2002 She's currently in a "re-imagining" per se of Porgy and Bess that will hopeully move to Broadway, so she may be back soon!

  • 3 people were buried in the ground.

  • "Ragtime" is just a wonderful show. And the original cast! Gah!

    Seriously, just the GODDESS Audra McDonald should be enough...but there's the incomparable Marin Mazzie...

    and on top of that Brian Stokes-Mitchell.

    It's almost too much amazingness to take.

  • Effing flawless.

  • @LOVEROFGAGA4EVER Sarah works for a white family outside NYC and buries her infant son in their garden because he reminds her too much of his father, who left her before he knew she was pregnant. The father of the family is on expedition to the north pole when this happens, and the mother decides to take in Sarah and her son.

  • All those Ohhss at the begining... She makes my heart stop

  • One of the greatest songs of all theatre, sung by one of its best singers. I get chills when I hear Audra sing it.

  • @idontreallycare78933

    I agree completely, however I wouldn't use the word creepy. I would say it's beautiful yet chilling... maybe even haunting. I think that's why I like it so much. The tune really shows the pain and guilt she is feeling and how desperate this man has made her. She did an absolutely fantastic job with this.

    The title couldn't be more perfect. :)

  • WOOOOW!!!! Such an AMAAAAAAAAZING VOICE!!!! A breath of fresh air!!! I LOOOVE opera and I LOOVE that she is an African American woman singing opera! There aren't that many African American women who sings opera but she DEFINITELY is AMAZING!!!! Soo beautiful! I too also like to sing opera and many other symphonic music! I LOOVED to sing the song Ave Verum Corpus! She have such a BEAUTIFUL voice!!! I LOOVE IT!!!

  • Ragtime is one of my favorite musicals... and this is one of the main reasons why!

  • this song is so eerie yet beautiful......creepy but not even in a bad way......its so poignant to the point of giving me chills

  • She's so beautiful and sings like an angel.

  • Can the 3 dislikes please get your eyes and ears checked.. please..

  • The hair on my arms will NOT go down after watching this. Goosebumps the entire way through.

  • I cry every time I listen to this song.

  • Can we take a moment and realize: She sang this ENTIRE thing on her knees. She's a freak of nature, and thank God for it.

  • I love this woman so much it's unreal.

  • actually i think it was her acting rather than the song

  • fqlj

  • damn i think she might have did this better than the original

  • @noonyboo3 she is the original... :) but only audra could outdo herself haha

  • @Alwayzsketching jea ik im pretty moronic lolz

  • @noonyboo3 she was the original and won a tony for it too.

  • @AdamEfimoff jea i relized that after i wrote it . um an idiot X[

  • three people are insanely jealous!

  • @kayleighaross yep strange people

  • How do you dislike this?

  • i cried

  • Audra McDonald's greatest performance....not only that, one of the greatest stage performances ever from my favorite musical ever. Powerful, simply powerful.

  • LOVE THE TITLE :D

  • 3 people buried their hearts in the ground. This woman has a voice that just tears me apart. I cry every time I hear this.

  • This is incredible. Audra has one of the most beautiful, pure, emotional soprano voices I've ever heard!

  • obsessed obsessed OBSESSED with her. every time I hear her sing, especially this song, I get the chills big time. I even sang this for my recital senior year of high school!

  • I grew up with Audra and she was as impressive at 13 as she is now. A powerhouse vocalist and unique talent. This is my favorite broadway performance of all time.

  • Mega chills.

  • in the songg, wen they say "...when i buried u in the ground..." wut iz she talkin about. i've nevr seen the musical, looks very interesting. i'd luv to c it. oh and btw she killed this songg without havin hr voice cutout and changed like other starz. just like @BlueJeansBaby012 sed, talent starts in the theatre.

  • @wadimericanchick She's actually being literal. Coalhouse left and she gave birth to the baby alone. She was afraid and probably suffering postpartum depression and she buries the baby. The character Mother discovers the baby and takes them both in.

  • @lifeinanutshell haven't seen it either. So, the baby is dead and she buries him? Or, not dead?

  • @littlehouse15 The baby's alive.

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  • Honestly one of the most phenomenal musical theatre performances, of all time.

  • Audra not only has the pipes, but the emotion....her vibrato is amazing.

    RAGTIME deserved a longer run in NYC ....BOTH times...great score....what went wrong, I wonder? Perhaps they tried to do TOO much? Would appreciate any feedback on this thought/show.

    Again, Bravo Auda....AMAZING performance.

  • @jotheodorou They couldn't keep it running either time because there were too many people in the cast, too many to pay! Too bad, this is one of my favorite scores ever.

  • @jotheodorou The book was messy in act 2 and the show didn't focus. There were too many bombastic ballards late in the show and the score's second act pales in comparison to the first. The direction also got somewhat sluggish in Act 2. This was the most talented cast I have ever seen on stage in one show and the story is compelling. And some of the songs are glorious.

  • Her voice is angelic. I honest to God have never heard a more beautiful voice than that of Audra McDonald.

  • No one can do this song justice quite like Audra.

  • I love Audra to pieces, but if you actually sang like that to a baby, it would scream it's head off in terror, or possibly be deafened. Def not a lullaby. lol.

  • Goosebumps! Brava Brava!!!!!!!!

  • It would be hard for me to sing those lyrics and keep it together. What a talent.

  • From the second she stepped on stage at the Vivian Beaumont in Carousel, I was enchanted, enthralled and totally captivated...and I am today. What a unique talent.

  • Best Sarah ever... period

  • Freaking amazing! Audra is just....otherwordly, in terms of talent.

  • OH.MY.WORD.

    the operatic value of her voice in this role is unbeLIEvable!

    audra kills this. in the best way

  • I just don't like her voice in this...

  • I saw this production back back '98 and to this day it is still one of the most amazing shows I have seen. The Cast was EPIC. Not a bad note in the bunch of them.

  • best version

  • Did they darken her for the show or is it the lighting? Because... it almost doesn't look like her here...

  • One of her brightest moments. brilliant

  • i friggin love her.

  • Unbelievable!

  • these are the times I wish I was black. and female.

  • this... is kind of heartbreaking and her voice is breathtaking.

  • Amazing - I cried!!!!!!

  • i thinks she should sing on Private Practice! She is a goddess!!!!! :-) I love her!

  • @Elphaba88 Haha I wish!!!! She is great she is my fav character.

  • Amazing! One person, sitting in one spot, commanding the stage as if an army! Such an artist!

  • not moved. maybe it's the quality.

  • This woman is seriously amazing. NO WORDS

  • She sings right from the soul. 100% believable.

  • Love the title of this video. she is amazingggg

  • Jus sayin...she lives in my town. My brother was in her daughters class in first grade

  • she is absolutely unbelievable. undeniably brilliant.

  • EGADDDSS. That is all i have to say

  • i would kill to work with her, or even do a master class with her. she is my favorite broadway actress of all time.

  • She is living proof that you CAN sing correctly and sound amazing, versus belting your brains out. Love her.

  • She's amazing but there is a correct way to belt too.

  • you can belt correctly. there's nothing wrong with belting if you do it right.

  • @TheImpossibleTen Are you saying that there is no "correct" way to sing this song in a belt or a mix?

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  • @TheImpossibleTen Actually, she also belts her "brains out" and that CAN be done safely, too.

  • @TheImpossibleTen Implying you can't belt and sound amazing safely?

  • @TheImpossibleTen Just gonna vocalize what everyone else said, but belting is not singing incorrectly, if sung with proper technique. But I will completely agree with you that she is amazingly talented.

  • First of Audra Has the Voice of JESUS!

    She just touches my spirit.

    Second has anyone seen ragtime because I wanted to know if she's singing about killing the baby because he reminds him of her husband.

  • She didnt kill the baby, she just buried it when it was born because it reminds her of the father. But the baby doesnt die, Mother finds him in time and saves it. So she is singing to the baby saying that she is sorry for burying it. Its an appologie.

  • A true artist.

  • I can hold it together until she sings, "forgive me".

  • @interpretermom I'm totally with you. At the "forgive me" moment, it's all over. I just saw this production done in Chicago. Brilliant production, but Audra has that amazing power in her middle range that very few singers have. She loses nothing between her chest voice and her head/mixed voice.

    Audra, I love everything you do, but COME BACK TO BROADWAY, PLEASE!!!

  • She's so amazing :)

  • You got it right- Amazingness! I've seen her in several shows, in concert, and met when I lived in New York. She was never anything less than beautiful, gracious, and, yes, AMAZING. Her voice is supernaturally wonderful, but it's her acting choices that make her performances so memorable. She's perfection.

  • Favorite song from Ragtime

  • She is an amazing actress. That what makes this song.

  • This woman is amazing. Far out her voice is so haunting.

  • I love the freedom she takes wit..Audra...I love you!

  • the part that gets me every time is that short interlude where she doesn't sing anything and just lives with the guilt of burying her child alive. the pain is so great she has to turn away from him for a minute. breathtaking.

  • I love her voice... its like a lullaby.. i wish she was in the present Ragtime too.

  • I hold my breath everytime I hear Audra sing this song. Her voice shouldnt exist, it's so.. .perfect. Completely flawless.

  • HOLY SHIT SHE IS AMAZING.

    pure talent like this is rare.

  • My God.. this gave me chills.

  • GREATNESS.

  • How is it possible anyone's voice can be THAT pure and goregous?!

    Take that you annoying singers of today who need full studios to sound even half decent! REAL talent lives in the theatre (with some exceptions).

  • @BlueJeanBaby012 Not only that it can be that pure and gorgeous, but that she can act like that while singing and have feeling in every word and sound. I'm so amazed by this woman.

  • @BlueJeanBaby012 That's why my fav genre is Broadway ... There is good talent out there in the studios. But to do it live ... every night ... no room for error ... Broadway is the place ... I'm in Ottawa, Canada - we get maybe 3, 4 shows a year. So I don't miss a single one. We also have a few really good community companies that could very well be considered professional. My dream will be, until I'm 6 feet under, to perform on Broadway. HA. We'll see ! Go Broadway.

  • @BlueJeanBaby012

    so true! i had auto-tune. :( grrr

  • son this womans voice ,,,, is sick for lack of a better word .. her voice jus isnt TOUCHABLE

  • Breathtaking. I get chills everytime I hear her sing this song.

  • It's amazing that anyone that talented and beautiful could be so humble and grounded!

  • AUDRA.omg this woman is like a god ! i met her in NY but wow she is beyond amazinggg

  • *Breathtaking*

    That score is so incredibly difficult, and she makes it look effortless. Doesn't get much better than that....

  • God how incredible

  • Her voice is a miracle. She can mix, belt, she can sing bass, tenor, alto, soprano, coloratura, you name it, haha.

    I am so proud that my own name is Audra for this reason :P

  • Chills... she's perfect.

  • oh audra... you are amazing.

  • Excellent performance, funny she does so well that even though i have watched this a gazillion times I never noticed she flubbed the words at 3:00. still amazing though!

  • wow. she is spectacular. we're doing this at my high school, but nobody would be able to do this song better than her.

  • Peeeerrrfffeccctt Performance!!!!

  • just amazing, I saw this on broadway and I'm crying just as hard now, it's timeless...

  • i hope she comes to broadway with the new kenedy center prodution

    however i highly doubt it because rumm or has it she will be reprising her current role in twelth nigh opposite Anne Hathaway and raul esparaza for broadwa ytthis season althouygh oskar and the publick thearter havent made it official yet

  • Yeah, and maybe also because she's getting too ol

  • As much as I love Audra in this role, I felt Jennlee Shallow's gutsier performance fit the intimate production better.

  • Jennlee was awesome! A girl by the name of Stephanie Umoh has just joined the cast in the role of Sarah and will be doing the broadway production. She's crazy good!

  • The girl who is playing Sarah in the revival, Stephanie Umoh, has a phenomenal voice and is a great actress.

  • Stephanie Umoh is in the revival!?! I had been following the videos of her in college.

  • she is such an amazing actress. and what makes her such an amazing singer is that she did it all in that position, kneeling on the ground.  its very tough to sing like that and she does it so well!!

  • I got sarah! I did it! I hope I make audra proud!

  • Congrats! I'm sure you'll be just as amazing :}

  • Broadway?

  • omg no. I wish! Haha no this is a Syracuse City school production. The four highschools in my district are doing it. It's nothing like broadway....but very competitive just the same.

  • No, he's not dead. She buried him alive because every time she looked at him, she saw the man she loved, the man who left her without ever knowing he was going to have a son. She couldn't stand the pain. But the baby was discovered before it died. Now she's apologizing and explaining to the baby and to God. Sad as hell!

  • so wait is the baby dead?

  • the baby isnt dead now but after being that close to audras mouth when shes belting it probly is hahaah

    shes sooo fierce

  • you are so stupid and I love you for it! :-)

  • love you too boo. lets have a nyc date this christmas

  • @jeffbowers no the baby isn't dead. i dont wanna give away the end but the baby isn't dead.

  • i know now, but thanks....

  • How can anyone not cry at this song? It's a killer.

  • thank you for posting this! i was obsessed w/ this song in high school.

  • omg this song always makes me cry...i'm also auditioning for the part of Sarah...i hope to do as good (or at least half as good as audra.she's freakin amazing)it's so powerful and soul-wrenching....beautiful song*

  • omg i am singing this solo tonight at my chorus concert. i love it soo much. i get so into i almost always cry at the end.

  • man...i almost cry everytime i hear her sing this

  • I'm auditioning for sarah next week!

  • Good luck :} . Rock it out as much or even more than Audra would.

  • o m g i love this musical, i love this song and i love audra mcdonald she is outstanding vocally and truly immense in this role!!!!

  • Yes Audra!

  • I'm crying. This is possibly the most beautiful song ever written.

  • OH MY LORD. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! HOMG HOMG HOMG SOMEONE FINALLY POSTED HER SINGING THIS!!!

    I...can die happy now.

  • . . . wow. . .this makes things like american idol seem so juvenile. she's incredible. . .can't find words. . .it's perfect. everything about it is perfect

  • didnt she kill her child????????? how is she holding a baby?

  • she tried but the baby lives and is found by mother. this is after it is found

  • Saw her do this on Bway,  this was as powerful as anything I've ever seen on stage. She and BSM were both fantastic, I had to go back to see the show a second time. Wish PBS or someone had filmed it for posterity.

  • Thank you SO much for sharing this gem with us. Would you by any chance have any other clips from this performance?

  • No sorry :{