Audra McDonald to Make West End Debut With Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill

Audra McDonald will make her West End debut this summer when she stars in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill at London's Wyndham's Theatre. The six-time Tony Award winner will take a previously announced hiatus from Broadway's Shuffle Along, which opens April 21. Lady Day is set to run from June 25 to September 3.

Set in 1959 at a seedy Philadelphia bar, the play with music relives Billie Holiday's last performance, taking place only four months before her death at the age of 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 made its New York debut off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in 1986 and has since gone on to tour the world.

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill began previews on Broadway March 25, 2014, and was initially set to play 70 performances during a 10-week limited engagement. It officially closed after 20 previews and 173 performances on October 5. McDonald, who won her record-breaking sixth Tony for the role, was joined onstage by a jazz trio led by Sheldon Beckton and a canine named Roxie.

McDonald is also set to re-create her performance as Billie Holiday in an upcoming HBO film adaptation that will debut Saturday, March 12.