Theater News

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, Starring Audra McDonald, Will Be Recorded by PS Classics

The two-disc set will be available for purchase on July 15.

Audra McDonald plays Billie Holiday in Lanie Robertson's Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, directed by Lonny Price, at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
Audra McDonald plays Billie Holiday in Lanie Robertson's Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, directed by Lonny Price, at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
(© Evgenia Eliseeva)

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, which stars five-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, will be recorded live by PS Classics at Circle in the Square Theatre during a regularly scheduled performance between May 27–31.

The resulting two-disk album will be available for purchase on July 15. Preorders are currently being accepted at the label's website. The set will be produced by label cofounder Tommy Krasker, who has helmed McDonald's first three solo albums.

Set in 1959 at a seedy Philadelphia bar, the production relives Billie Holiday's last performance, taking place only four months before her death at age 44. The show's musical numbers include "God Bless the Child," "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," "Strange Fruit," and "'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do." The production officially opened on April 13. McDonald is joined onstage by a jazz trio led by Shelton Becton as well as by a Chihuahua named Roxie.

For tickets and more information, click here.

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