Theater review: ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill’

The singing legend known as Lady Day is having a tough night.

In Lanie Robertson’s biographical play, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, at the Jubilee Theatre, we meet the great Billie Holiday in 1959, the last year of her life. Performing at a humble Philadelphia night club filled with good and bad memories, she delivers a chatty set of indelible music and candid recollections that makes it obvious she is emotionally and psychologically bruised and battered from a lifetime of hard knocks.

Some are visited upon her by others (sexual abuse as a youngster) and some are self-inflicted (heroin addiction). As she haltingly works through her set, she struggles to keep her focus and, seemingly, her sanity.

But through it all, there is that voice. And thanks to Denise Lee’s incredible channeling of the singer in the title role, we hear every note and feel every wound with deep resonance and empathy.

The structure of this show calls for Lee to perform a wide sampling of Holiday classics, while mixing in a rambling, expletive-rich soliloquy to the audience that gradually reveals the people and events that shaped the singer and her career.

Occasionally, she speaks with or makes demands of her pianist, Jimmy Powers (Geno Young). We learn of poisonous lovers, cruel white people, the demeaning pain of incarceration, the triumph of playing venues like Carnegie Hall — and that Artie Shaw must have been a pretty good guy.

But while the life story is compellingly told by Lee, it is the singing that makes the greater impression in this show, which is deftly and gently directed by Sharon Benge.

Lee’s vocals, which imitate, but do not mimic Holiday’s style, are a joy to have wrapped around you. Her exquisite phrasing is a particularly pleasing aspect of a performance that unites excellent vocalizing with first-rate acting.

There are a number of highlights in her highly diverse set list. Numbers like Strange Fruit, a devastating ballad about the lynching of blacks in Holiday’s era, are balanced by tunes like the bouncy What a Little Moonlight Can Do, the humorous Gimme a Pigfoot, and the raunchy Baby Doll.

Lee, who is making her Jubilee debut with this show, receives fine support from keyboardist Young and bassist Kevin Arthur. There are some nice touches to be found in the lighting by Nikki Deshea Smith, and the sound design by David Lanza.

There is one odd aspect of the show: The first act is more than twice as long as the second.

It is of little consequence, because the show gets all of its considerable work done in a comfortable running time that totals well under two hours. But, for audiences accustomed to balanced two-act shows, this structure may seem a little off-kilter.

While its subject is larger than life, this play with music is built on a lean scale. Lee and her backing duo are the only performers, and all the action is played on Emerson’s stage. But, after seeing this show, you will feel you know Holiday better. Better still, you will better know Lee’s fabulous voice.

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Theater review: ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill’."