‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill’: Theater review
8 / 10
The much-decorated McDonald - five Tonys and counting - evokes the tough steel and rough velvet of Holiday's singing with uncanny precision. But this isn't about mimicry. It's about the heart and soul, bruised and battered, that comes through. Audra McDonald channels Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill. This is McDonald at her most intimate. Director Lonny Price has Holiday roam the audience bumming cigarettes and drinks. The play is the story of a women whose gift was her voice. The final moment - in dead silence - is shattering. Ooh, ooh, ooh, indeed.
