Today’s audiences have plenty of access to Billie Holiday songs via audio recordings. But video of Holiday’s live performances remains sparse, rendering her alluring stage presence a rare experience indeed.
“Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” which debuted in 1986 and ran on Broadway in 2014, presents an intimate glimpse into this larger-than-life figure. The play is set in a dingy South Philadelphia bar in March of 1959, the sort of spots Holiday was forced to play when her cabaret license was suspended following a brief prison stint for possession of narcotics. Holiday’s most iconic hits are featured, including “Crazy He Calls Me” and “Strange Fruit,” along with musings on achieving fame for her talent, notoriety for dabbles into drugs and drinking, admiration for her civil rights advocacy, and sympathy for her history of abusive partners.
