Pam and I went to see Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill in the Mandell Theater in the Orlando Shakes, (812 E Rollins Street, Orlando, FL 32803). We sat in the back row house right which was good for me since it meant no one was seated behind me who might be distracted by the glow of my iPad screen as I drew. I sketched as the audience filled in and it was a packed audience. Pam and I wore masks while the rest of the audience were mostly mask less.
In this powerful musical production, Billie Holiday sings her most famous songs and reminisces about the great triumphs and losses of her life. The time is 1959. The place is a seedy bar in Philadelphia. The audience is about to witness one of Billie’s last performances. With the help of her piano man, Jimmy Powers, she lets music tell her story, sharing soulful, heart-wrenching, and bawdy songs from her memorable canon including: “Strange Fruit,” “God Bless the Child,” “When a Woman Loves a Man,” and “T’Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do.”
The set felt like a smoke filled lounge. They actually used a smock machine to get a smokey effect to the lights. Some of the audience were in small tables surrounding the stage. They got the full lounge effect. The pianist was the first to arrive on stage, then the drummer and cello player took their spots.
When Lady Day arrived she was stumbling a bit and clearly had been drinking. She was in high spirits to start and regaled the audience with details of her life from the start. She talked more than she sang, but that was the point. Members of the audience murmured their support and surprise as she spoke. The lounge became like a sort of spiritual revival. Details of Lady Day’s life slipped out in her drunken stupor. When she sang however the earth stood still.
In one number the lighting was spot on to what I painted in the poster. Working on location I didn’t try and catch that momentary moment of lighting, I kept changing the lighting in the sketch until something worked right.
Lady Day continues to play at the Shakes through March 5, 2023. I highly recommend it. Masks are suggested but not required.