audra mcdonald, that reads as beautifully as your voice.'ve ever read something that matched in such a seamless way something so beautiful as your voice. >> oh, taron, thank you. thank you so much. >> is absolutely true. what inspired -- i know a lot about the backstory, everything about it i've read, for our audience, what was the connection with billie holiday? >> you know, she was such a pioneer. obviously, you know, one of the greatest voices of our generation, one of the greatest jazz artists of our generation but also for me, i was just so inspired by this woman who basically had this sort of dickensian life and how she, regardless of all the knocks, you know, still rose to the top, regardless of the fact that she was a star at a time when society was not treating african-americans well at all. and she suffered a lot because of that. >> how did you balance the troubled aspects of her life? we are around the same age. a lot of people remember billie holiday as portrayed by diana ross and the scene on the floor. >> yes. >> fighting the