When it comes to the blues, nobody could exude such poignancy as Billie Holiday. She was a force from the day she was born, and remains a seminal figure well after her death. Now, through three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Dee Dee Bridgewater, the spirit of Billie Holiday lives on in the musical “Lady Day”.
Sit back and rewind to 1954, London Town. Billie Holiday is just hours from her European performance and is nowhere to be seen at rehearsal, as the band anxiously awaits her arrival. When she finally appears, vibrantly dolled up in a red dress, we are immediately captivated -- captivated by her presence, captivated by her anxieties. She is nervous to perform tonight in London, in this big theatre, miles away from her New York home. Unable to play in the States due to drug allegations and a revocation of her cabaret card, Billie walks upon a tightrope with the weight of the world on her shoulders. This performance will make or break her.
A virtuoso at plot structure, writer and director Stephen Stahl incorporates the dark periods in Billie’s life that fostered her music. Before Billie belts out "God Bless the Child", she recalls her sense of abandonment from her mother. Setting the tone for “Strange Fruit”, we learn about the oppression and bigotry that resulted in Holiday’s father’s death -- and that Holiday herself faced constantly. Here she was, recording original tracks, and receiving so much as $25. Royalties? You never saw those if you were a female black woman. The historical landscape is as integral to the musical as the music itself. Here, we are treated with 29 classics like “A Foggy Day (In London Town),” “Them There Eyes,” “My Man,” and “Good Morning Heartache.”
Act II opens with the evening’s best performance, Bridgewater dripping in a gorgeous jeweled gown, with a matching signature gardenia adorning her hair -- which we are told was to “cover up a burn from a curling iron.” Full of anecdotes and asides, Bridgewater paints a perfect portraiture of a remarkably complex individual that is both heartwarming and head-on. Though the performance is intended for ages 14 and up, “Lady Day” implores themes that stand on a universal bookshelf. And while the memory of Billie Holiday lives on forever through her records, Dee Dee Bridgewater brings us that much closer to America’s favorite Lady.
Dee Dee Bridgewater is an American jazz singer. She is a three-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress and host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show “JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater.” In addition, she is a United Nations Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization. After the musical sold out in Paris an London, it opened up in New York and continues to attracts fans on a weekly basis.
For more information on "Lady Day", check out our full event listing: https://stagebuddy.com/listingdetail.php?lid=13772
