Audra McDonald Calls Out Fan Who Followed Her Home and Demanded Autograph After Gypsy Performance

Audra McDonald took her final bow in Broadway’s acclaimed revival of Gypsy on Sunday, Aug. 17 — but not before an unsettling fan encounter that left her fearing for her safety.

The six-time Tony Award winner detailed her experience in a video shared to her Instagram page on Saturday, Aug. 16, explaining that the night before, a theatergoer “snuck around and found” where she exited the building and followed her “all the way” to the place she was staying, demanding an autograph.

According to McDonald, the fan “came into the building, and was uncomfortably close. And then when I finally got some security to help me, their response was, ‘Hey, I’ve come all the way,’ and named some town, some city that they came all the way from.”

“That is crossing a big ol’ boundary,” McDonald, 55, said. “And just want to call that out. That’s a big no-no. That’s now messing with my safety. And it’s not right.”

McDonald recounted the experience to illustrate a theater etiquette lesson, explaining in her “quick little PSA” that there are reasons why some actors greet fans outside a stage door following a performance, and others don’t.

“There’s a lot of reasons that performers don’t do the stage door,” The Gilded Age actress explained. “There have been shows that I’ve done it and shows where I haven’t done it.”

“Actors, as much as we would love to greet every single one of you after a show sometimes, we’re just exhausted and it’s hard,” she said. “Some people get anxiety about doing the stage door. Some people are in a rush to catch the train so they can get home. Some people avoid the stage door because of health reasons. And that’s perfectly fair.”

Though McDonald — over her three decades on the boards — has spent her fair share of time at the stage door in the past, she said that she chose not to during her months in Gypsy for “a myriad of reasons.”

“The main ones have been because of health and exhaustion and vocal health and trying to conserve what little vocal energy I have so I can get through the next show and the next show and the next show,” she said. “When I can, I’ll walk out and wave. And also I’ve got a kid that I’m trying to get home to.”

“When you see an actor leave the stage door, if they don’t stop, leave them alone,” she added. “There is a reason that they’re not stopping, and it has nothing to do with you.”

At least two fans had a very different experience with McDonald on Sunday, Aug. 17: Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King.

The longtime pals were in the audience for McDonald’s final performance, greeting the actress onstage afterwards with hugs and words of affirmation.

“It felt so different tonight,” King, 70, told McDonald, in a video shared to the CBS Mornings host’s Instagram. “From the moment you walked out, you felt it too, right? Oprah said, ‘She’s on fire!’ ”

” ‘Cause I knew that I didn’t have to do it again so I let it all go,” McDonald admitted.

Asked what she’s going to do next, the actress gave a swift answer. “Lie down!” she said, laughing. “I’m going to lie down. I’m going to lie down. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

McDonald made history in Gypsy, as the first Black actress ever to play the role of Mama Rose on Broadway. The production, directed by George C. Wolfe, also made history with the casting of Joy Woods and Jordan Tyson, the first Black actresses to play Louise and June, Mama Rose’s daughters.

Widely considered the greatest American musical of all time, Gypsy tells the story of Rose’s relentless pursuit of showbiz fame for her daughters. The musical, with a score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents, is based on the life of legendary burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee.

The 2024 revival of Gypsy ran for 28 previews and 261 regular performances at the Majestic Theatre. It’s the sixth time the musical has been brought to Broadway since the original 1959 Ethel Merman-led production. Others have starred Tyne Daly, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone.

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McDonald’s performance earned her a 2025 Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical, putting her into the record books as the most recognized performer in the theater awards’ history, with 11 nods (she has the most acting wins, too).

“Saying goodbye to Rose and to my incredible @gypsybway family,” McDonald wrote on Instagram on Monday, Aug. 18, captioning a gallery of photos from her last performance and throughout her run. “I couldn’t have wished for a more brilliant, fierce, joyous, kind and loving group of souls with which to travel this road. I don’t even have the words to express how much I love them all.”

“My head is full of gorgeous memories, my body is tired, and my heart is full of nothing but gratitude and love. 🌹❤️🙏🏾” she added.