Audra McDonald and Mandy Patinkin were special guests on The Colbert Report, as the show threw what it humbly dubbed the "Wedding of the Century." Host Stephen Colbert officiated an on-air wedding ceremony for a couple whose wedding plans were thwarted by the US government shutdown. To help celebrate the newlyweds, Patinkin offered a non-denominational Jewish blessing and McDonald sang Billy Idol's "White Wedding" for the couple's first dance. Watch it here. Audra McDonald was due to perform at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, this week, but the concert was canceled due to the government shutdown and will be rescheduled.

Audra McDonald—whose first solo album in seven years, Go Back Home, was released earlier this year on Nonesuch Records—kicks off a four-month North American tour in the Opening Night Gala of the San Francisco Symphony’s 2013–14 Season. She and the orchestra, led by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, perform an all-American program at Davies Symphony Hall tonight. McDonald’s tour continues through December and includes performances in Austin, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Kansas City, Toronto, and more. 

Randy Newman will open the 2013–2014 season of free concerts from the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. His performance in the Thomas Jefferson Building's Coolidge Auditorium will take place on Saturday, October 5, followed by a conversation with the Music Division’s Mark Horowitz about the art of songwriting. Audra McDonald will spotlight songs from the Library’s American musical theater collections in her October 10 Coolidge Auditorium concert. Tickets will be available starting September 4.

Audra McDonald was a special guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC last night. The five-time Tony Award winner stopped by the studio to help Fallon out on a Suggestion Box request to give voice to some sage Yahoo! Answers in her own inimitable way. Watch the segment here. McDonald's US tour keeps her close to home this weekend with a performance at the Caramoor Venetian Theater in Katonah, New York, on Saturday.

Live From Lincoln Center will broadcast an expanded edition of its season finale from May, featuring series host Audra McDonald at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. “Audra McDonald In Concert: Go Back Home” is a special gala concert showcasing songs from a wide range of musical theater composers featured on her new album, Go Back Home. This 90-minute edition airs on PBS stations on August 30.

The Royal Conservatory's Koerner Hall in Toronto has announced its 2013–14 concert season, the organization's fifth anniversary season, which will feature performances from several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Audra McDonald, performing the season's sold-out opening gala concert, Chris Thile, Shawn Colvin, Rokia Traoré, and Fatoumata Diawara. Tickets are on sale now.

Audra McDonald was featured on PBS Newshour last night, speaking with the show's Art Beat correspondent Jeffrey Brown about her new album, Go Back Home. McDonald, whom Brown describes as "a leading lady of musical theater and much more," discusses her connection to the songs on the album, her most personal yet, and the sense of home she found in the theater at an early age. You can watch the complete Newshour piece here.

Audra McDonald, who is featured on NPR's Tell Me More today, has announced a number of new tour dates across the US for this summer and fall featuring music from her new album, Go Back Home. The tour includes performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, San Francisco Symphony's Opening Night, shows in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Kansas City, and much more. In a new video, McDonald says of Go Back Home: "If there were a Broadway show that were written about my life, especially the last seven years," she says of the album in the video, "this would be the soundtrack." Watch the video here.

Audra McDonald brought the music of her new album, Go Back Home, to homes across the US when PBS broadcast "Audra McDonald In Concert: Go Back Home" on Live From Lincoln Center on Friday. You can now watch the show online and watch three web-exclusive bonus performances here. McDonald recently stopped by WNYC's Soundcheck to discuss and perform a few songs from Go Back Home; listen to the show here.

Audra McDonald performs songs from her new album and more on "Audra McDonald In Concert: Go Back Home," airing on PBS's Live From Lincoln Center tonight. The show presents McDonald's May 9 at performance in New York City for Lincoln Center's spring gala, which the New York Times called "absolutely thrilling." USA Today, in recommending tonight's show, says: "McDonald has one of the warmest, most glorious singing voices on the planet." McDonald discusses her inclusion of Adam Gwon's "I'll Be There" on the album and concert in a new video clip you can watch here.

Audra McDonald marked the release of her new album, Go Back Home, with an appearance on PBS's Charlie Rose. The two discuss the personal nature of the new album, her career in theater and on television, and the upcoming broadcast of "Audra McDonald In Concert: Go Back Home," on PBS's Live From Lincoln Center this Friday, May 24, featuring her recent performance in concert at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall. 

Audra McDonald’s first solo album in seven years—Go Back Home—is out now. The album features songs by composers with whom she has long been associated (Adam Guettel, Michael John LaChiusa, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim) and some, like the Kander & Ebb title track, relatively new to her repertoire; in addition, McDonald continues to champion works by an emerging generation of composers. New York exclaims: "It's entirely possible that Audra McDonald is the greatest singer alive." The New York Times, which describes her concert for this Friday's Live From Lincoln Center on PBS as "absolutely thrilling," visited McDonald to capture an intimate performance of Guettel's "Migratory V," which you can watch here.