The songs of musical theatre innovator Ricky Ian Gordon interested multi-Tony winner Audra McDonald so much that she included four of them on her debut CD, "Way back to Paradise." On April 28 and 29, she will sing Gordon's songs live in a series of concerts at New York City's Guggenheim. Tickets for the evenings go on sale March 28. Bright Eyed Joy was the title of Gordon's first CD, released in 2001 on the Nonesuch label. Songs on the album include settings of Langston Hughes, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Dorothy Parker poems ("The Dream Keeper," "When Sue Wears Red," "Wild Swans," "Souvenir," "Resume" and "The Red Dress"), sung by McDonald among others. Gordon's credits include the music to Jean Claud Van Italie's The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the musical theatre piece Dream True.

Joining McDonald will be Gordon vets Theresa McCarthy (Saturn Returns, Titanic) and Obie winner Darius de Haas (Rent, Marie Christine). Lewis Cleale (Sunset Boulevard, A New Brain) is also a featured soloist.

Tickets are $18, $12 for Guggenheim members. The Peter B. Lewis Theater of the Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is located at 1071 5th Avenue at 89th Street. For more information on these and other programs at the museum, visit http://www.worksandprocess.com.