IN: Audra Ann McDonald (born July 3, 1970) is an American actress and singer. Primarily known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win all four acting categories. She has performed in musicals, operas, and dramas such as A Moon for the Misbegotten, 110 in the Shade, Carousel, Ragtime, Master Class and Porgy and Bess. As a classical soprano, she has performed in staged operas with the Houston Grand Opera and the Los Angeles Opera and in concerts with symphony orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic.

McDonald played Billie Holiday on Broadway in the play Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill in a limited engagement that ended on August 10, 2014. After previews that began on March 25, 2014, the play opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre on April 13, 2014. Of the play, McDonald said in an interview: It's about a woman trying to get through a concert performance, which I know something about, and she's doing it at a time when her liver was pickled and she was still doing heroin regularly...I might have been a little judgmental about Billie Holiday early on in my life, but what I've come to admire most about her - and what is fascinating in this show - is that there is never any self-pity. She's almost laughing at how horrible her life has been. I don't think she sees herself as a victim. And she feels an incredible connection to her music - she can't sing a song if she doesn't have some emotional connection to it, which I really understand. McDonald won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for this role, making her the first person to earn six Tony Award wins for acting (not counting honorary awards) and the first person to win a Tony Award in all four acting categories. In her acceptance speech, "she thanked her parents for encouraging her to pursue her interests as a child." She also thanked the "strong and brave and courageous" African-American women who came before her, saying in part, "I am standing on Lena Horne's shoulders. I am standing on Maya Angelou's shoulders. I am standing on Diahann Carroll and Ruby Dee, and most of all, Billie Holiday. You deserved so much more than you were given when you were on this planet. This is for you, Billie." This performance was filmed at Cafe Brasil in New Orleans and broadcast on HBO on March 12, 2016. McDonald received a 2016 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her role in the broadcast. McDonald had planned to make her West End debut as Holiday in Lady Day in June through September 2016, but after becoming pregnant she postponed these plans. She performed in Lady Day in June 2017 through September 9, 2017, at the Wyndham's Theatre in the West End.

What was notable about this performance?

OUT: McDonald won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for this role,

IN: Boucher was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is of Quebecois and Ukrainian descent. She was raised Roman Catholic, and attended Catholic school. Her mother is Sandy Garossino , former Crown prosecutor and art's adovcate.

Grimes' music is varied, including an eclectic mix of styles which she herself describes as "ADD music", it shifts frequently and dramatically - "I go through phases a lot." Her work has been likened to various artists, including Bjork, Siouxsie Sioux and Enya and she was described by Tastemakers Magazine as an "alien love-child of Aphex Twin and ABBA" The Guardian summarised her musical style: "By sounding a little like everything you've ever heard, the whole sounds like nothing you've ever heard." Her music has experimented with elements of art pop, synthpop, witch house, baroque pop, dream pop, ambient, and electro-R&B. Grimes says she realized how to make music early. She was listening to Panda Bear's album Person Pitch and it "jumpstarted" her mind. She explains, "Up until that point I had basically only made weird atonal drone music, with no sense of songwriting. I barely understood anything about music, it seemed like a mystery. But suddenly all music clicked into place and seemed so simple and easy. I was pretty much able to spontaneously write songs immediately after listening to this album once." On her music making process she has also said, "I have a nervous tic. When I was a kid, I would constantly be banging on things with my foot. Making music has been a really good mechanism for releasing some kind of percussive issue that I have. It's usually about finding a perfect beat; I play around until I get a tempo I like and then it's just a matter of filling in the blanks". Grimes utilizes looping and layering techniques, particularly with vocals; many of her songs feature layers of over fifty different vocal tracks which create an "ethereal" sound. Grimes is a soprano. Grimes cites the following as influences: Marilyn Manson, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Enya, Kate Bush, Beyonce, Bikini Kill, Joanna Newsom, Burial, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Blue Hawaii, How to Dress Well, Cocteau Twins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Panda Bear, Tool, Dandi Wind, Outkast, the Dungeon Family, New Edition, TLC, Michael Jackson, Black Dice, Aphex Twin, Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, the Spice Girls, Jedi Mind Tricks, Paramore, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Geinoh Yamashirogumi, Yoko Kanno, Kenji Kawai, David Bowie, Queen, St. Vincent, Mindless Self Indulgence, Chris Isaak, Salem, Al Green, and Blink-182, as well as the Dune novels, The Godfather Part II, K-pop, artist Yayoi Kusama, The Legend of Zelda, Akira, and medieval music.

why was she described as this?

OUT:
Her music has experimented with elements of art pop, synthpop, witch house, baroque pop, dream pop, ambient, and electro-R&B.