As you enter the theatre, a jazz trio is playing. Jimmy Powers on the piano accompanied by a double bass and drums are laying down a mellow vibe. The theatre resembles a cocktail lounge with candles and gardenias at every table. Excitement builds for the entrance of Billie Holiday (“Lady Day”). Finally, she arrives clad in a beautiful pink dress and immediately stops at a small table near the microphone laden with gin, brandy and other liquor. She pours a brandy and takes a big slug and then refills her glass and fills another stating “For later.” It quickly becomes obvious that this is not a typical performance of one of the greatest jazz singers to ever walk the earth.

Before long she begins her first song “I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone,” which ends to huge applause. Billie is played wonderfully by Yolanda London. She continues to drink and sing interspersed with tales of her life.

She talks lovingly of her first husband Sonny Monroe, although she acknowledged his many faults including his introducing her to heroin. In addition to addicting her, she blamed him for hiding his stash in her luggage during a police raid. As a result, she spent a year and a day in prison.

As the performance moves along, she continues to drink and decline. At one point, she runs from the stage and returns stumbling with a surgical cord around her left arm. Plainly, she just got a fix. Throughout, Jimmy tries to keep her going. He interrupts her stories with the start of a song to get her back singing. Later, he suggests that she take a short break while exchanging shakes of his head with the other band members. Whenever a song would start, the monumental singer would drop her infirmities and beautifully capture the feeling of each song. Among the songs covered were some of her most famous including: “Pig Foot,” “God Bless the Child,” “Strange Fruit,” and “Deep Song.”

Billie’s reminisces about her life are extremely poignant as it is clear that she is approaching the end of her life. She details her lifelong battles with poverty, addiction, and racial prejudice and intersperses them with the magic of performing at Carnegie Hall and the loves of her life. Throughout it all, she sings. Each song is a loving tribute to the enduring legacy of the great Billie Holiday.

Cost of a ticket: $90 (Cabaret Seats)
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Half Price > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Get tickets now to Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill through November 26th!

Quinn Delaney