Ruth Leon recommends… Lady Day – Audra Macdonald
Ruth Leon recommendsLady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill – Audra Macdonald
Click here to subscribe – BroadwayHD.com
I recently had occasion to watch again Audra Macdonald’s stunning performance as Billie Holliday in what is so much more than a biographical and musical picture of a great artist who died much too young. It’s a heartbreaking and beautiful play which, while including all Billie Holliday’s famous signature songs, is also an insight into a society and a world that was not able to encompass her.
It’s March 1959, and at a small Philadelphia club, a star vocalist takes the stage for one of the last shows of her life. This powerhouse performance conjures jazz icon Billie Holiday, known evermore to jazz lovers as Lady Day, for an intimate cabaret evening featuring live renditions of her most beloved classics, and a revealing glimpse into the troubled history of the woman behind the legend. This play with music is a testament to one woman’s ability to mine humour from hardship—and to the transformative power of song.
If you are not already a member of BroadwayHD.com, you’ll need to buy either a monthly ($8.99) or an annual subscription ($99.00). If you only want to watch this item, you can buy a monthly membership, which gives you access to all their shows, and then cancel within 30 days.
Read more here
McDonald, please, not Macdonald. It’s been more than a quarter-century since she won the first of her record-setting six Tony Awards; let’s please accord her the respect of getting her name right.
I simply adore this woman’s voice!!