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Lady Day: The Life and Times of Billie Holliday, done Cabaret style |
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Apr 24, 2010 at 12:00 AM |
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ongoing - Sat. April 24 Music trends may come and go, but listening to the radio today, it seems a safe bet that the general trend has been downward. That is why it is so refreshing and rewarding to be able to enjoy an evening with one of the true legends of music - well, sort of - and, in the process, to hear her legend told from her own lips- or at least as close as we can get since her untimely passing 50 years ago. While the famously pinched voice may not be there, the story, sound, and spirit of “Lady Day” is kept intact and intriguing in this new production at Emerson Bar & Grill by singer/star Jaqui Parker and music director/co-star Chauncey Moore. Set in an old Jazz room in Philadelphia, the play is part gig, part autobiography, and all pain, redemption, and soul. Surrounded by empty café tables and supported by one “shy” accompanist, one slender mic stand, one gardenia and one drink…after another, Parker’s Holiday may not sound as much like the real Holiday as, say, Madeleine Peyroux and the show may not have the logical flow of Jeff Robinson’s “Live Bird” (which was held together by the premise that Parker was being interviewed, instead of simply sharing at times too intimate details from the stage with “friends,” but she is able to use her firmly fluttering voice and emotional flexibility to create a mood that holds true to itself and holds the audience as well. In between renditions of such deservedly famous songs as “God Bless the Child” and “Strange Fruit” (which is given an extra sense of eerie lighting by designer Karen Perlow), Parker explains how Holiday went from borderline orphan to underage call girl to Jazz legend to jail bird and back, tying her character to such other late legends as Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith (who Holiday claimed as her musical “parents”), Benny Goodman (who apparently discovered Holiday) and Lester Young (who gave the girl born Eleanor Fagan the name “Lady Day”). While Holiday takes a “break” to see her “doctor” (as in Feelgood), pianist Moore stretches out in an uncredited solo that garnered some of the loudest cheers of the applause-filled show. When Holiday returns with a lap dog in arm, it is clear that she has taken her “medicine,” but she is strangely able to bounce back to full form by the appropriately named and prematurely ended finale of “Deep Song.” With its simple set, great music (which is worth investigating further), informative program and the ever-enthusiastic introduction by Lyrics Stage’s Producing Artistic Director Spiro Veludous (that includes an important PSA about texting while audiencing), “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” is a great take for Jazz lovers, biography lovers, or just people who want to get lost in another time and place and fully enjoy the experience.The show's up through Sat. April 24. Tickets range from $29 to $54.
(contributed by Matt Robinson) 140 Clarendon St., Boston, 617-585-5678 www.lyricstage.com. |
