Does Audra Look Like A Mother Superior?
The theater-chat-room time wasters are complaining that Audra McDonald (left), who has just been cast as Mother Abbess in the live “Sound of Music” that NBC is broadcasting on December 5, is too young for the part. But Audra is 43, and the originator of the role, Patricia Neway, (don’t tell me you have recordings in your attic of her: I won’t believe you, and neither will my best friend, show-queen extraordinaire Dee Sushi) was only 41 when she wore the wimple on Broadway. But people are much more familiar with Peggy Wood (right), who was 73 when the movie version was released in 1965. Still, there’s precedent for a fortysomething Abbess. Audra will be terrific — even though they’ll put her in makeup, and very few of the nuns I’ve ever known wear much makeup.
