West End shows don’t come much more anticipated than Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. A tribute to the late, great Billie Holiday, Lady Day was originally meant to transfer from Broadway to London in June of 2016. But when the star of the show Audra McDonald discovered she was pregnant the production was postponed. Now one year on she finally brings her Tony Award winning performance as Holiday to the Wyndham’s Theatre on Charing Cross Road.I was lucky enough to see a preview before the official press night but as it was so perfect I've no hesitation in recommending it to you, right now, ahead of Joseph Wick's review of opening night.
Written by Lanie Robertson, the play is inspired by an actual performance in 1959. Still clubbing just months before her death, Holiday apparently stumbled through her set drunk and high and in front of a measly audience before staggering out of the bar. The image of one of the world’s greatest jazz singers fallen from grace haunted Robertson so badly that he wrote the play to exorcise those demons.
Lady Day is his reimagining of that performance. In it, Billie candidly shares stories about the trials and tribulations of her life while also trying to get through a set of several of her hit songs including ‘God Bless the Child’ and ‘Strange Fruit’.
Everything about the production serves to ensure that as soon as the house lights dim the audience is transported to Emerson’s Bar and Grill in Philadelphia. Christopher Oram’s set is cosy and intimate. The musicians are raised on a small platform and are surrounded by members of the audience, much as they would be in a real cabaret venue. These seats provide a great opportunity for anyone looking for a unique theatre experience.
However, it is not only the stage of the Wyndham’s Theatre that has been transformed. Several rows of seats at the front of the stalls have been removed and replaced with club style tables and chairs. Although they aren’t the most comfortable way to spend a ninety minute, one act play they help to enhance the atmosphere of the production. They also give McDonald’s Holiday a bigger crowd to play with as she shares her stories with her new ‘friends’, the audience for the night.
Lady Day is very much a play with music. Although the piece is set as a cabaret the songs often start with a prompt from the piano in an attempt to rescue, revive or release Billie from the painful haze she has talked herself into. As Billie, McDonald often turns to the musicians for guidance and affirmation. It is this intricate relationship as well as her interaction with the audience that differentiates this from a one person show.
The three piece band consists of musical director Shelton Becton on piano, Frankie Tontoh on drums and Neville Malcolm on bass and all three men are fine jazz musicians. It is worth taking your seats fifteen minutes early to see the trio perform before the star takes the stage although their ‘Blues Break’ towards the end of the show also gives them a chance to shine in their own right.
But although supported it is McDonald’s performance in its own right that makes Lady Day so magical. It is a cocktail of the many diverse traits which make her subject so renowned: she’s ballsy, vulnerable, crass and shy. Combined with her startlingly accurate vocal and physical mimicry it is in one word sublime.
It is 23 years since Audra McDonald burst onto Broadway playing Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel and yet Lady Day is her West End debut. Let’s hope she doesn’t leave London waiting for so long next time.
Why is it a rarity to see real female relationships being depicted on stage? Clean Slate proves that it can be done and it is a very welcome breath of fresh air.