Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Having spent time visiting some of Billie Holiday’s early performing venues in Harlem recently, it was with great enthusiasm and reverence for her talent that I attended Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill at the Space Theatre.
It was as if we traversed a magical portal to March 1959 in South Philadelphia. The space transported the audience to the actual venue - a corner raised platform for the three incredibly talented jazz musicians, a brick wall beautifully lit, cabaret tables and overhead lampshades. Emerson’s Bar was convincingly real and immersive, and we succumbed immediately to the mellow sounds and calm vibe of the venue.
As the smooth sounds of the ‘Jimmy Powers Trio’(Kim Purling, Victor Rounds and Calvin Welch) stirred our souls, we waited with anticipation for the main event - Lady Day: the great Billie Holiday.
The music was groovy and infectious and when the lady herself (Zahra Newman) arrived on stage, the audience was ready to be in the palm of her hand. Newman embodies Holiday in every respect. Not only is her voice spectacular, she oozes the physicality Holiday was known for, and lives every lyric and note.
Billie Holiday was not her real name, having been born Elinore Harris in 1915. Later in her career she used the stage name Billie, after an actress named Billie Dove, and the name Lady Day was given to her by a saxophonist friend, Lester Young.
In the show, we find Billie in her last performance, progressively becoming more addled due to addiction and alcohol, recounting stories of her tragic life. These are interspersed with amazing renditions of some of her famous songs: ‘God Bless the Child’, ‘What a Little Moonlight Can Do’, ‘Somebody’s on My Mind’ and ‘Strange Fruit’ being a sample.
The journey is all consuming, as we roil with her at the harshness she has experienced. The calm jazz vibe lulls us into a comfortable mellowness and then we are hit with the cannon fire of sadness and waste that punctuated Billie’s life. It is somewhat like watching a slow train crash as we know this was Billie’s last performance before she died far too early at 44 of cirrhosis.
Newman interacts beautifully and passionately with the audience, breaking the fourth wall and bringing us into her story. At times we are buoyed by her joy, at times we feel her pain and are numb, and at other times she makes us laugh heartily - in particular, over an incident spurred by southern racism where she solved a bathroom call in a novel way.
Mitchell Butel is to be congratulated for his empathic and intelligent direction of this show. There is the right balance of reverence, concern and pathos. He brings the best out of Newman whose vocal precision is matched with clever physicality as she stumbles, rambles and deteriorates before us on stage. She is captivating and whilst a crumbling ruin, unravelling before our eyes, mesmerizingly beautiful to watch and to hear.
Throughout the show we hear Billie recount stories from her life of her awful childhood assault, of being subjected to rampant racism and exclusion, terrible relationships with men, and of the famous drug bust in Philadelphia that not only denied her the ability to continue to perform in New York but landed her in jail for over a year.
The band, led by Kim Purling, is outstanding and his arrangements of the famous Holiday songs, incredibly clever. His interactions with Newman are natural and give a realism to the story. The other band members like-wise, are stellar talents.
Costuming, by Ailsa Paterson is glamorous and signature Billie - a stunningly authentic 1950s gown, white gloves and gardenias. Beautiful. The lighting by Govin Ruben, and sound design by Andrew Howard are evocative of the era and transformative.
This is an amazing, not-to-be missed show. Rarely does a show capture a moment in time so well and make you feel like you have literally been transported. There are not enough positive adjectives to describe Zahra Newman’s portrayal of this legend. The standing ovation at the end was well deserved. An amazing piece of theatre.
Shelley Hampton
Photographer: Matt Byrne.
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill is a co-production between State Theatre Company South Australia, Belvoir St Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company.
ADELAIDE: Space Theatre, 25 Aug – 9 Sep
SYDNEY: Belvoir St Theatre, Upstairs Theatre, 14 Sep – 15 Oct
MELBOURNE: Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio, 19 Oct – 2 Dec
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