Ben
Brantley

August 10, 2015

She may be wild-eyed, dusty and barefoot, and wearing a dress that looks like it doubles as a heavy-duty cleaning rag. But from the moment you set eyes on her at the beginning of the Williamstown Theater Festival’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s “A Moon for the Misbegotten,” you never for a second doubt the supreme, comforting competence of the rowdy farm gal named Josie Hogan. Ample of bosom and muscular of arm, Josie has the take-charge aspect of someone who can fix just about anything. Sure enough, within the opening minutes of Gordon Edelstein’s industrious if unconvincing revival of O’Neill’s elegiac comic drama from the 1940s, Josie has swept the steps, washed a load of greens in a trough, repaired a leaky water pump and chased her shiftless younger brother off into a new, better life in the big city. What can’t this woman do? The same question might be asked about the actress playing Josie. That’s Audra McDonald, who has become to the American theater what Meryl Streep is to film — a star of unstinting polish and versatility who attracts major acting prizes like a magnet draws iron filings. A record-holding winner of six Tony Awards, for both plays and musicals, Ms. McDonald embosses any production in which she appears with a good-value guarantee.