LuPone and McDonald to Perform Aug. 26 Ravinia Concert

Tony Award-winning leading ladies Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald will once again share a stage for an August 26th concert at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago.

Ted Sperling (Tony Award-winning orchestrator for The Light in the Piazza, See What I Wanna See director) will lead the Ravinia Festival Orchestra for the 7 PM show.

On February 10th, LuPone and McDonald begin previews in the Los Angeles Opera Company's staging of the Brecht-Weill classic The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, directed by John Doyle.  The two stars have previously performed together at Ravinia, in the staged Sondheim concerts Anyone Can Whistle, Sweeney Todd, Passion and Sunday in the Park with George.

LuPone, who is currently appearing in Sweeney Todd, has been one of Broadway's foremost leading ladies since her star-making turn in 1979's Evita, for which she won a Tony Award. The star, who graduated from Julliard and was a member of John Houseman's famed Acting Company in the '70s.  Broadway credits include Noises Off, The Old Neighborhood, Master Class, Anything Goes (Tony nomination), Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Oliver!, Working, The Three Sisters, The Robber Bridegroom (Tony nomination) and The Beggar's Opera; she has also starred in Pal Joey and Can-Can at Encores! Additionally, she originated the role of Fantine in the London production of Les Miserables, starred as Norma Desmond in the 1993 West End production of Sunset Boulevard (her last appearance in a fully-staged musical), and played Genevieve in the original production of The Baker's Wife.

McDonald is a four-time Tony Award winner for her performances in Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime and most recently, A Raisin in the Sun. She has also appeared on Broadway in Henry IV and Marie Christine. She has released four solo albums, with "Build a Bridge" her most recent.  McDonald's film and television credits include It Runs in the Family, the network dramas "Mister Sterling" and "The Bedford Diaries," and the television musical version of Annie, and the HBO movie Wit. She is also acclaimed as a concert artist, and will next appear on Broadway as Lizzie Curry in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of 110 in the Shade.

Tickets are $75, with lawn seats available at $10. For more information, visit www.ravinia.org.

Photo of Patti LuPone by Ben Strothmann