Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar & Grill
Mercury Theater Chicago presents Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill. Billie Holiday, also known as Lady Day, was a troubled soul with a tumultuous past. In 1915, Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan to two teenage parents. She grew up in Baltimore in a challenging environment with several cases of abuse and no family stability. Holiday experienced a traumatic incident in her youth when an adult neighbor raped her at the tender age of ten. She was sent to a reformed school and later reunited with her mother, Sadie Gough, in Harlem, who worked at a brothel and had little time to care for her daughter. They lived in extreme poverty; Holiday dropped out of school in the fifth grade and found a job working around the brothel, where she ran errands, eventually forced into prostitution.
As she left the life of prostitution, she finally found her calling as a singer, where the world had the chance to experience one of the greatest and most gifted jazz singers, who pioneered a new way of manipulating tempo and phrases.
Developing an intuitive musical structure and a vast knowledge of jazz and blues, Holiday developed a singing style that was profoundly moving. The girl with the turbulent upbringing debuted singing at 18 in a Harlem nightclub called Monette's. Writer and producer John Hammond discovered her and immediately introduced her to Benny Goodman, who arranged three recording sessions with her in 1933.
Her raspy voice had no formal musical training; she mesmerized her audiences with her innate sense of musical composition. Although Holiday rarely saw her father, Clarence Holiday, a jazz guitarist in Fletcher Henderson's band, Billie inherited the same deep love and knowledge of jazz and blues, which catapulted her singing style. She credits her adapted style to listening to Louise Armstrong and Bessie Smith, which influenced "Ol' Blue Eyes" Frank Sinatra, who credits Billie Holiday for being part of his love and influence on his singing career.
“It is Billie Holiday ... who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me.”
From the moment she stepped on the stage in her beautiful white dress, Alexis J. Roston blew us away with her remarkable vocals that embodied Billie Holiday (Lady Day) in this one-act performance. The haunting songs were sung flawlessly by Roston, making you feel like you traveled back to the Harlem nightclub, hearing Holiday on stage singing Strange Fruit (a poem about lynching), God Bless the Child, and Lover Man. She was outstanding, channeling Holiday's mannerisms, from singing, detailing her habitual drinking to dull her emotional pain, masterfully working the room, and even showing Holiday's addiction to various drugs (opium, cocaine, and heroin), as she vividly allows us to see her shooting up backstage— capturing the audience with her tragic stories from the eyes of Billie Holiday. Roston's show-stopping performance as Lady Day showed us why she is a superb actor and songster— wowing us with her exceptional depiction of Holiday.
Singing with a three-member band, her conductor, Jimmy, had the daunting task of keeping her in line, so she could continue her performance without straying away into topics and causing issues that could get her arrested. Audiences will also get a special treat as Roston brings a dog named Mister (one of many dogs owned by Holiday) to the stage.
Known for wearing gardenias, Billie Holiday started her trademark image after scorching her hair with a curling tong. Searching for a remedy, she finds a girl selling gardenias to guests at the club where she performed and purchased the flower to cover her scorched hair, becoming her trademark.
Bille Holiday tragically died from cirrhosis, a chronic liver disease, in 1959; however, before leaving the world, she won Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Grammy, National Rhythm & Blues, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Still, her tragic life-fighting addiction and substance abuse didn't overshadow her exceptional vocal delivery and improvisational skills, making her one of the most well-known figures in jazz. And at The Mercury Theatre, audiences will get to witness Hoilday's incredible story thanks to the exceptional performance by Alexis J. Roston.
Let's Play Theatrical Review Highly Recommends Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill at Mercury Theatre.
MERCURY THEATER CHICAGO
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill
Written by Lanie Robertson
Directed by Artistic Director Christopher Chase Carter
and Alexis J. Roston
January 27 - March 12, 2023
