This year’s smart money is betting on Sarah Paulson.
Surely, she’ll take home the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series award. In The People v. O.J. Simpson, she provided depth and a level of redemption to chief prosecutor Marcia Clark.
Maybe it’s just greedy that I want Audra McDonald to win.
After all, in 2014 McDonald’s brilliant performance as a slurring, late-career Billie Holiday in the revival of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill has already been recognized with her sixth career Tony. An Emmy for the same performance would just be icing.
And yes, HBO’s version of Lady Day is simply a filmed performance. It has all the drawbacks and challenges of a filmed play that you’d expect. What works in a live theater is exactly what a televised performance lacks—a charged physical atmosphere. But McDonald comes pretty damn close to pulling it off.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth the 90 minutes of your time. McDonald plays her like she’s a sympathetic aunt—drunk, but sympathetic—who corners you at a family party. It’s a sad, sometimes funny, riveting thing to watch as she portrays Day, frequently stumbling through the fourth wall of the stage as she recounts the pained life of the jazz icon in between faithful renditions of her songs.
It’s also true that McDonald already has one Emmy in her possession. (It’s no doubt sitting next to those half-dozen Tonys and her two Grammys.) But that Emmy win was for hosting the PBS series Live from Lincoln Center, and she beat out the 2015 broadcasts of the Tonys, the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Basically, Neil Patrick Harris was her competition.
It’s peculiar that one of the most versatile actresses and singers working today gets an award but not for doing what she does best.
Surely, she’ll take home the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series award. In The People v. O.J. Simpson, she provided depth and a level of redemption to chief prosecutor Marcia Clark.
Maybe it’s just greedy that I want Audra McDonald to win.
After all, in 2014 McDonald’s brilliant performance as a slurring, late-career Billie Holiday in the revival of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill has already been recognized with her sixth career Tony. An Emmy for the same performance would just be icing.
And yes, HBO’s version of Lady Day is simply a filmed performance. It has all the drawbacks and challenges of a filmed play that you’d expect. What works in a live theater is exactly what a televised performance lacks—a charged physical atmosphere. But McDonald comes pretty damn close to pulling it off.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth the 90 minutes of your time. McDonald plays her like she’s a sympathetic aunt—drunk, but sympathetic—who corners you at a family party. It’s a sad, sometimes funny, riveting thing to watch as she portrays Day, frequently stumbling through the fourth wall of the stage as she recounts the pained life of the jazz icon in between faithful renditions of her songs.
It’s also true that McDonald already has one Emmy in her possession. (It’s no doubt sitting next to those half-dozen Tonys and her two Grammys.) But that Emmy win was for hosting the PBS series Live from Lincoln Center, and she beat out the 2015 broadcasts of the Tonys, the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Basically, Neil Patrick Harris was her competition.
It’s peculiar that one of the most versatile actresses and singers working today gets an award but not for doing what she does best.
