A classically trained soprano with a voice that can seemingly do anything,
Audra McDonald was the most important new voice to hit musical theater in the 1990s, and while her work on stage, in films, and on television is at the center of her career, she has also found time to record an album here or there, and this one, her fifth solo studio release, and her first in some seven years, pretty much follows the template of the earlier ones, with a couple of songs from
Stephen Sondheim ("The Glamorous Life" from A Little Night Music in the case here) and
Rodgers & Hammerstein ("Edelweiss" from The Sound of Music), but most importantly, she continues to feature new and younger composers on her albums, and on
Go Back Home, these newer pieces are the most striking, perhaps because they are the least familiar. The opener and title track, "Go Back Home" from The Scottsboro Boys, written by
John Kander and
Fred Ebb, is a case in point.
McDonald gives the song the exact amount of yearning and nuance, and she does the same to "First You Dream," another piece from
Kander and
Ebb, this one from Steel Pier. "Migratory V," from Saturn Returns, written by
Adam Guettel, is another ethereal gem here. She also does versions of songs drawn from literary sources, two of which, "Some Days," drawn from a piece of writing by
James Baldwin and set to music by
Steve Marzullo, and "Tavern," based on a poem by
Edna St. Vincent Millay and given music by
Will Reynolds, are included here.
McDonald's voice astounds and seduces throughout
Go Back Home, which is what we've come to expect from this great singer and interpreter. Hopefully we won't have to wait another seven years for her next solo outing. ~ Steve Leggett
![Nobody But Me [Deluxe Version]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0093624916420_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "Nobody But Me [Deluxe Version]")
![The King and I [Broadway Cast 2015]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602547372048_p0_v4_s90x140.jpg "The King and I [Broadway Cast 2015]")
