Theater Review: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill

by Mark-Brian Sonna of MBS Productions

Triumphant. Phenomenal. A tour de force.

These are the best possible adjectives describing M. Denise Lee’s performance of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill currently running at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas. This show proves why Ms. Lee is considered one of the top talents in North Texas, and why she deserves to be called a “star”.

Lady Day happens during what would be one of Billie Holiday’s last night club engagements. The play occurs in March 1959; on May of that same year she gave her last public performance in New York and then died that July. During the course of the nightclub performance she reminisces on her life. Her stream of consciousness rambling is at times amusing, sad, at times briefly confusing, and full of candor. Her honesty is unflinching as she narrates episodes of her life, and some of her personal thoughts. What the audience gets is not just a fractured narrative of this most talented woman’s life, but a view of her fractured psyche. We know she was sexually abused, and did drugs, and lived in an abusive relationship, but what makes this play transcend the standard biopic is that we get to fully understand her as an individual. For all of her foibles, her humanity and her desperate need to find joy and stability in her life is so palpable that the audience is not just able to empathize with her, but sympathize with her. We all have the desire to be loved and to find peace. We may not have the same history as Billie Holiday, but her emotional needs are really no different than that of every human being. This is what makes the script by Lanie Robertson so wondrous. This multi-layered and textured script would be hard for most actors, but Ms. Lee’s performance makes it effortless.

M. Denise Lee inhabits Billie Holiday so completely I forgot I was watching an actor. Even though they’ve stylized Ms. Lee quite a bit she still doesn’t resemble Lady Day, yet she had me believing it was her on stage because of her posture, her gestures and her inflections. She even changes her singing to match that of Billie’s. She captures the nuances, the inflections, the timing, the phrasing, yet this performance isn’t mimicry. Ms. Lee presents in every lyric a kernel of truth about who she is and what has happened in her life. The songs add to the story line, and she gives fresh understanding of the lyrics, for she puts them in context to her life. I’ll never be able to hear Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child” in the same way again. Curiously, I will always now think of M. Denise Lee’s performance of that song; that is how impressive this performance is.

Though Billie Holiday led a torturous life she had an unusual level of optimism. Lanie Robertson’s script masterfully has created the delicate balance of not just the character, but places her in historical context – the era of segregation - and is able to find humor in what would be the most unpleasant situations. As an example, Billie Holiday recounts an event at a restaurant in Alabama in which she is not allowed to eat in the main dinning room because she’s black. She is with the Artie Shaw band, an all white band. Collectively they all agree to eat in the kitchen. When she asks where the bathroom is, she’s informed that she can’t go to it because they have no bathroom for “colored” people. She points out that most of the wait staff is black, and surely they must have a facility. She’s informed that they only have a facility for men, none for the women since there are no “colored” women working in the restaurant, and that she’s lucky that she was allowed to come in to the restaurant to eat. Billie Holiday points out the absurdity of the situation, because they are standing in the kitchen where none of the restaurant patrons can see her, and is getting desperate for she “needs to go,” she’ll even use the staff's men's room if need be. The restaurant hostess won’t relent. The argument escalates till finally in a fit Billie says “fine!” and in front of everyone squats and pees. This outrageous story as written and delivered by Ms. Lee is humorous, pathetic, enlightening, sad, comical, and anger-inducing all at the same time. Even though it’s unfair what has happened to her, she also lets the audience know she is grateful to be able to be touring as a singer, fulfilling her artistic need even in the face of segregation.

Joe Rogers plays Jimmy Powers, the pianist who accompanies her during the performance and interacts with Billie Holiday. He has only a few lines to deliver. He is a gifted pianist but not as strong an actor. His acting role is very small, and serves to guide Billie throughout the evening. When she walks off stage for a fix at the end of Act One, he awkwardly makes excuses for her. This device works to create an intermission. His dismay at her return for what becomes the play’s Act Two is palpable for he sees something that the audience doesn’t see at first. We noticed that Billie is drugged up, but we get a glimpse of her arm and we see it is bruised from having injected drugs. This reveal is done subtly and yet it is very alarming.

At this point I had not given a thought about the direction of the play for I was so mesmerized by Ms. Lee’s performance. Then it dawned on me, Phyllis Cicero, the director, has been quietly and brilliantly manipulating the audience. She has made the blocking so natural that one never noticed it, and she was able to elicit and/or allow this groundbreaking performance out of Ms. Lee. The unusual staging and ending of the show telegraphs the death of Billie Holiday and is done with much grace and sensitivity.

On the technical side there wasn’t a flaw. All involved deserved part of the standing ovation the show received. Even the canine Rubi who gets to play the part of Pepi - yes, there is a live dog on stage at one point - did her part exceptionally well.

Lady Day deserves sold out audiences and an extended run. I know for a fact I will be recommending this play to everyone I know.

Purchase tickets online or by calling 214-828-0094.