Congratulations! Audra McDonald Has More Tonys Then Anyone Else, So When Is Her Big Break?

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Audra McDonald made history when she beat out Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris to become the actress with the most Tony Awards when she won her 6th Tony on Sunday June 8, 2014. McDonald won Best Actress In A Play for her portrayal of Jazz singer Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. She concluded her thank you speech by thanking the women who came before her. Here’s what she said:

” I want to thank all the shoulders of the strong and brave and courageous women that I am standing on. I am standing on Lena Horne’s shoulders, I’m standing on Maya Angelou’s shoulders, I’m standing on Diann Carroll, and Ruby Dee, and most of all Billie Holiday, you deserve so much more than you were given when you are on this planet. This is for you Billie.”

McDonald’s awesome award speech was posted online at Vulture. Watch it below:

Watch Audra McDonald’s Performance of the song “When A Woman Loves A Man” from  Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. 

Compare this to Billie Holidays Performance of “When A Woman Loves A Man”

Audra McDonald, despite having won a 6th Tony, and appearing on the Shonda Rhimes series Private Practice for several years, isn’t exactly a household name. She doesn’t have a major role in feature film on her resume, and her TV roles, though substantial, have not been starring/lead roles. The Broadway actress Idina Menzel, who like Audra McDonald had a stage background, and some TV roles, has had her name embedded in pop culture landscape of 2014. She voiced a character in Disney’s highest grossing film of all time, Frozen, and had her name disastrously butchered at the Oscar Awards, which worked in her favor in the long run. Does this mean Audra McDonald could make the leap from icon of the theatre circle to become a major commercial success? She has proven herself time and time again to be capable of giving top performances. Can she take things a step further in the next few years?  Do you think she even wants to? Perhaps she’s the type of performer who would be perfectly happy to headline the stage for another decade or two. Post your thoughts below.