please welcome audra mcdonald. (cheers and applause) hey, audra, good to see you again. >> how are you? >> stephen: i haven't seen you since we both performed at the kennedy center honors. what that's what i do. i perform with people like you at the kennedy center these days. >> you were amazing. you rocked it. >> stephen: speaking of rocking it, new the new production of the gershwin's porgy and bess. this musical is incredibly important not only to america but to america because... (laughter) it takes place in my hometown south carolina. >> yes, it takes place in charleston, south carolina, in cabbage threw is an old mansion that in the 30s a lot of african americans lived in as a tenement. and it's one of the first american operas that we have by george gershwin. >> i lived on the same street as cabbage row. >> no way! >> i lived on batterry. you could go up and rainbow roy row was that area. bess live there is in charleston and goes to new york. i lived in charleston and i went to new york. >> yes! >> stephen: s

myself, norm lewis, audra mcdonald ripping it up, man, every night, having a ball. >> what's it liked of an opera, a musical that's been so important to so many people? >> well, there's a lot of ownership. you know, when you do this production of -- this is probably the greatest and most well known american opera, so everybody has a lot of ownership. they remember how they saw it. they remember the film, their favorite production. you know, they come with all of that. it was really for me as an artist and for us it's trying to carve out our own production, treating oufrsz as artists and putting that -- putting that over to the side. i'm really not trying to compete with any of those people, any of those previous productions. i'm trying to find my own way in this. >> you certainly are your own way. you've made the play sleeker. it's more efficient, i guess. >> it's better. >> it's better. >> no, no. sorry. i'm not george gerswin. >> we love george gerswin. if it weren't for him, we wouldn't be here. >> you know how people don't like to do remakes. luther vandross, marvin gay. >> it's