New Orleans, LA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/13/2013 -- Audra McDonald, the five-time Tony Award winner and recent star of The Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" on Broadway and TV’s "Private Practice," makes her New Orleans debut with two shows only on May 18 at 7:30 and 9:30. The Broadway @ NOCCA season closes with Megan Hilty, the star of NBC’s "Smash" (role of Ivy) and "Wicked" on Broadway, with one show only on June 1 at 7:30. Preceding them in the star-studded series this season were Patti LuPone in January and Sutton Foster in March, and Megan Mullally of "Will & Grace" in early April. For tickets please visit http://www.broadwaynola.com/.

The Broadway @ NOCCA series announced last month that it will initiate a new, $2,500 per-year scholarship. The scholarship will be awarded annually to one graduating NOCCA senior who will be going on to a conservatory or college and specializing in Musical Theater performance. Each annual award recipient will be selected by the school’s faculty, based on merit and need. The first recipient of the Broadway @ NOCCA scholarship will be awarded onstage by Tony-winner Audra McDonald immediately after her performance at Broadway at NOCCA on May 18th, 2013.

Tickets for all remaining concerts can be purchased at www.broadwaynola.com or by calling 800-838-3006. The visiting Broadway artists will all be giving master classes for the NOCCA Institute’s high school-aged musical theatre students. All concerts are produced by Mark Cortale, long time producer/manager of Jeffery Roberson aka Varla Jean Merman, and will be hosted by Sirius/XM radio star Seth Rudetsky at the piano. The series is sponsored exclusively by the New Orleans Hotel Collection and Gambit.

Audra McDonald became a three-time Tony Award winner by the age of 28 for her performances in "Carousel," "Master Class," and "Ragtime," placing her alongside Shirley Booth, Gwen Verdon and Zero Mostel by accomplishing this feat within five years. She won her fourth in 2004 for her role in "A Raisin in the Sun," a role she reprised for a 2008 television adaptation, earning her a second Emmy Award nomination. On June 10, 2012, McDonald scored her fifth Tony Award win for her portrayal of Bess in Broadway's The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess thus tying a record held by Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris for most Tony Awards won by an actor. She also maintains her ties to classical repertoire with an active concert and recording career, performing song cycles and operas as well as concerts throughout the U.S. Audra’s many television appearances include four seasons as Naomi Bennett in "Private Practice," as well as "Homicide: Life on the Street," "Law & Order: SVU," "Having Our Say," "Mister Sterling," "The Bedford Diaries," "Kidnapped, the television remake of the musical Annie, and HBO’s Wit with Emma Thompson and was announced recently as joining the cast of The Good Wife. Her film roles include Cradle Will Rock, Object of My Affection, It Runs in the Family," "Best Thief in the World," and "Seven Servants."

Megan Hilty stars as the triple-threat Ivy Lynn in NBC’s musical drama "Smash," currently in its second season. A native of Seattle, Megan made her Broadway debut as Glinda in "Wicked" shortly after graduating from prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, and went on to perform the role in both the national tour and in Los Angeles. She has also appeared on New York stages as Lorelei Lee in the Encores! production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, for which she earned rave reviews. For her critically acclaimed portrayal of Doralee Rhodes in Broadway’s "9 to 5: The Musical" she received nominations for the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League Awards, as well as the L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Award. She has previously performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center and with the Cincinnati Symphony. Her voice was featured as Rosetta in Disney's "Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings" and also in Disney's "The Secret Life of Magic Gourd," "Phineas & Ferb," "Glenn Martin DDS," "American Dad," "Tinker Bell and the Pixie Hollow Games," "Robot & Monster" as well as singing as Snow White in the film "Shrek the Third." Megan recently wrapped production on Summertime Entertainment's animated film "Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return" with Kelsey Grammer, Hugh Dancy and Lea Michele, slated for release in 2013. She can also be heard alongside Placido Domingo on the opera star’s duet album. Megan was recently signed to Sony Music in a partnership between Sony Masterworks and Columbia Records. Her new album, "It Happens All The Time," was just released in March, including fresh interpretations of compositions by contemporary songwriters and producers.

Seth Rudetsky is the afternoon Broadway host on Sirius XM satellite radio and was recently featured in the film Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads. As a musician, he has played piano for over a dozen Broadway shows including "Ragtime," "Les Miserables," and "Phantom of the Opera." He was also the Artistic Producer and Music Director for the first five annual Actors Fund Fall Concerts, which included "Dreamgirls" with Audra McDonald (recorded on Nonesuch Records) and "Hair" with Jennifer Hudson (recorded on Ghostlight Records, Grammy nomination). As a comic he was awarded “Funniest Gay Male in NY” at Stand-Up NY and is a three-time Emmy nominee as a writer for "The Rosie O’Donnell Show." As an actor, he made his Broadway debut in "The Ritz" directed by Joe Mantello, and has appeared on television on "Law and Order C.I." and "All My Children." As an author, he wrote the books "The Q Guide to Broadway," "Broadway Nights," and "My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan" on Random House, has an audio book on audible.com featuring "Modern Family’s" Jesse Tyler Ferguson, "SNL’s" Ana Gasteyer, "Smash’s" Megan Hilty, and also writes a weekly column on Playbill.com. This year he added "television mogul" to that long list as Seth TV, his new, web-based entertainment network, launched. Go behind-the-scenes of the Broadway ringmaster's a-MAH-zing life with original shows like Seth’s Reality, celebrity concerts and more.

About NOCCA
New Orleans Center for Creative Arts is a regional, pre-professional arts training center that offers students intensive instruction in culinary arts, dance, media arts: filmmaking & audio production, music (classical, jazz, vocal), theatre arts (drama, musical theatre, theatre design), visual arts, and creative writing, while demanding simultaneous academic excellence. The Freda Lupin Memorial Hall on the NOCCA campus is used for student, local theatre and dance performances. Producer Mark Cortale is thrilled to be launching the New Orleans premiere of the Broadway @ NOCCA series in association with this outstanding organization.

Listing Information:
Mark Cortale presents
Broadway @ NOCCA
Hosted by Seth Rudetsky

Audra McDonald: May 18th at 7:30 PM and 9:30 PM
Megan Hilty: June 1st at 7:30 PM

Lupin Hall @ NOCCA
2800 Chartres Street
New Orleans, LA 70117

Sponsored exclusively by the New Orleans Hotel Collection and Gambit.

For tickets please visit www.broadwaynola.com or call 800-838-3006

***

For additional photo and interview requests contact: tomfervoy@gmail.com