Lanie Robertson News

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill is a play with music written by Lanie Robertson and this production is directed by Wren T. Brown. The musical premiered in 1986 in Atlanta, Georgia and its story recounts some events of Billie Holiday’s life leading up to this performance at Emerson’s four months shy of her death in 1959. Emerson’s is a small bar in South Philadelphia and the time is a midnight performance by Lady Day. Set to the backdrop of a piano center stage and a few cocktail tables around the space, we relive some events of Ms. Holiday’s life as told through stories found deep in her memory but living on the surface as if they just happened yesterday.

Florida Repertory Theatre has announced its 25th Anniversary Season in the Historic Arcade and ArtStage Studio Theatres. The 2022-2023 Season opens to previews in the ArtStage Studio on September 20, and the nine-show season runs through May 21, 2023.

La Mirada will present The Sound of Music beginning in April! The show stars Diane Phelan (Broadway: The King and I & South Pacific at Lincoln Center) as “Maria,” Christopher Carl (Broadway: South Pacific at Lincoln Center, Mamma Mia!) as “Captain von Trapp,” and Grammy nominee Suzanna Guzmán (The King and Iwith Yul Brynner, Bizet’s Carmen) as “Mother Abbess.'

Theatre Calgary's Artistic Director Stafford Arima has announced their 2022-23 season of plays.

From high-stepping and fan-favorite musicals to compelling award-winning dramas, Orlando Shakes in partnership with UCF has announced its upcoming productions for the 2022-23 season. 

Curio Theatre Company comes back, after two seasons without a mainstage show, with an intimate look at a musical icon. Curio will transform its Black Box space into a South Philly bar for one of Billie Holiday's final performances.

Metropolis Performing Arts Centre is presenting Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill through March 12, 2022.

Live, professional theatre bursts from inside the Players beloved barn stage with the 2022 Summer Season! An exciting lineup of shows full of attention, transformation, beauty, and joy. The season is the perfect combination of a return of some long-missed Players' traditions, coupled with the continued excitement of newness, change, and exploration. All with the utmost focus on the ongoing comfort and safety of all at the Players.

The life and music of legendary entertainer Billie Holiday comes to Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill January 27-March 12, 2022.

The time is 1959. The place is a seedy bar in Philadelphia. The audience is about to witness one of Billie Holiday’s last performances, given four months before her death. More than a dozen musical numbers are interlaced with salty, often humorous, reminiscences to project a riveting portrait of the lady and her music.

“Singing has always been the best part of living for me,” Billie Holiday tells the audience in North Carolina Theatre’s new production of LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL. Angela Robinson plays singer Billie Holiday and Nygel Robsinon plays her pianist Jimmy Powers at NCT, under the direction of Jarvis Green.

A Tale of Two Cities Cobbled Together by the Brothers Lovejoy, written and directed by Craig Fols, is an unconventional version of Charles Dickens’ classic, as re-enacted by two brothers played by Ezra Barnes (Avery Lovejoy) and Michael Gabriel Goodfriend, (Bunce Lovejoy). 

freeFall Theatre Company announces their 2021/2022 season. The 6 mainstage shows are Dames at Sea, The Night Before, Fatboy, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, A Skeptic and a Bruja and a summer production to be announced very soon.

Metropolis Performing Arts Centre has announced its 2021-2022 season. The 2021-2022 Season at Metropolis includes a series of popular theater productions: Groovy ‘60s musical revue SHOUT! The Mod Musical (September 16 – October 30, 2021); Thought provoking bio-musical Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (January 27 – March 12, 2022) and more.

La obra sobre los últimos años de vida de Billy Holliday se representó por primera vez en el Wyndham's Theatre de Londres en 2017

Pacific Conservatory Theatre will return to live performances this summer with two upcoming productions. The first is Together, A Musical Journey, running July 21 through August 8. This will be followed by Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, which will run August 19 through September 5.

 Doris Bumpus is now starring as the legendary Billie Holiday in 42nd Street Mood's virtual production of LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL, written by Lanie Robertson.

After more than a year away from live theatre, Theatrical Outfit has announced a return to the stage. For the 2021-2022 Season, audiences will once again be welcomed back into the Balzer Theater in the heart of Downtown Atlanta to experience smart, authentic, vital in-person theatre.

The latest offering in 42nd Street Moon’s 2021 Moonbeams series is a new virtual production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill starring Doris Bumpus as the legendary Billie Holiday. Written by Lanie Robertson and directed by Brandon Jackson with musical direction by Marcus McCauley, the play is both a celebration of Holiday as a musical icon and an exploration of her experience as a Black woman in America. Ultimately, it is a testament to the power of the human spirit to persevere in spite of incredible adversity. Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill is available to stream through May 30, 2021. For further information and to purchase tickets, visit 42ndstmoon.org/moonbeams. BroadwayWorld caught up with Ms. Bumpus earlier this week in Miami, where she was celebrating her 28th wedding anniversary. The Michigan native grew up singing in church, taking on her first solo at the tender age of five. The actor/singer/producer has her own production company, D’Sunflower Productions, and also has a pair of EP’s on iTunes, including her most recent release, “God Bless the Child,” which pays tribute to Billie Holiday. Her wide-ranging Bay Area theater credits include playing Dorothy Gale in 'The Wiz' and Effie White in 'Dreamgirls,' receiving a Pan Arts Award for Best Lead Actress for both. 42nd Street Moon audiences will remember her as Jewel in 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.' In conversation, Bumpus is easily chatty and ebullient, and her joy in being a working actor is palpable.

42nd Street Moon will announce that Doris Bumpus will be starring as the legendary Billie Holiday in the Company's virtual production of LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL, written by Lanie Robertson.