The Black Box Theatre will present “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” beginning Saturday, January 26, and running until Saturday, February 9, 2019. Tickets are available at theblackboxtheatre.com. The Black Box Theatre was established in 2017 and is a non-profit theatre located at 1623 5th Avenue, Moline, IL.
Lucky audience members will sit at the club tables on stage, as one of the greatest jazz/blues vocalists of all time takes us back to 1959. The famous Billie Holiday performs one of her last shows, singing “God Bless the Child,” “Strange Fruit,” and “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” among others.
Between numbers “Lady Day” shares her loves and losses in this award-winning musical, fresh from its Broadway revival.
The one-woman show is set in a small bar in Philadelphia, PA, a few months before singer Billie Holiday’s death. She is spiraling downward, but as the show progresses, she is buoyed by music. Holiday presents her life story in vignettes that are alternately funny, furious, and fragile.
Starring as Billie Holiday is Cynthia Johnson. Black Box Theatre audience members will remember her from our production of “Crowns” during the 2018 season. Supporting Lady Day on piano is Antonio Collins.