Build a Bridge

List Price: $18.98 Discount Price: $8.79

Customer Reviews:

Always an originator [Posted on 2007-01-28]
I have been mostly a fan of Ms. McDonald's Theatre music so this CD filled with pop music selections took some getting use to. But as usual I have been won over by Audra's beautiful voice and musicianship. Her individual style and fearless fresh approach to music making is rare and very special. She has the best voice and technique of any singer singing Broadway and popular music today. She is never afraid to take on a classic associated with another singer( Dusty Springfield's "I think its going to rain today", by Laura Nyro) But let this CD live in your CD player for a while and you'll find yourself finding new joys in it with each new listen.

Nyro [Posted on 2007-03-04]
Not my favorite album of hers, but the Laura Nyro songs alone are worth the price.

Great song choice again [Posted on 2007-09-19]
I love Audra McDonald, especially her debut album, Way Back to Paradise. For a while I felt like her song choices have been not up to par with that first album, but she is back to picking unique, different songs for Build a Bridge. If you like hearing something other than the same old theater songs again and again, this is a great one to pick up.

Not as good as "How Glory Goes" [Posted on 2008-08-31]
My first album of hers was "How Glory Goes", and I fell in love. Her voice is flawless. Her strength, tone, vibrato, emotion... it's all pure ecstasy.

However, I felt that some of the songs chosen on this album were awkward. It's not that I didn't like them, but for her being the princess of Broadway, there was not much traditional or familiar in this repertoire. Maybe that was intended, and if so, kudos.

The album did seem to come together at the end, and I actually enjoyed hearing some less familiar pieces. I just don't know that it was the best choice for her at this point.

I'm looking forward to completing my collection from this diva!

A siren smothered [Posted on 2008-12-01]
Once again one of the most beautiful voices in musical theater wraps her mezzo around a mix of quasi-theater and pop songs. When it works--in the dual Laura Nyro songs, and the surprising, thoughtful rendition of John Mayer's My Stupid Mouth (note to singers: words matter, acting counts)--McDonald achieves a glint of the delicious friction she unfurled on her most satisfying outing, 2001's Happy Songs. But the CD buckles under repetive, uninspired arrangements, making McDonald's vocal gifts feel like useless beauty; it meanders when it should soar; it lulls when it should cut like a knife to the heart.

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