LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL

(Washington, DC) The Anacostia Playhouse announces its summer feature presentation, Lanie Robertson’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. The show is directed by Tom Flatt and stars Anya Randall Nebel as Billie Holiday. Music Direction is by Levar Betts.

The year is 1959, it’s March and Billie Holiday is performing one of her last performances before her death just a few months later. The place is a rundown bar in South Philadelphia and the music is pure Billie as she walks through the tables, sharing the stories of her life. Come and step into the Billie’s world as Anacostia Playhouse recreates the mood of the time, at turns tragic, funny, and always compelling.

Says director Tom Flatt: 

“It has been an amazing journey bringing Billie Holiday to life, and we look forward to audiences meeting her. They will be astonished by the complete transformation Anya achieves, from her specific physicality to her spot-on vocal style. Through Anya’s searing performance, we hope they experience how Billie used song to transform her pain into art and her incredible heroism struggling with addiction, abuse, poverty, and racism, as well as her salty sense of humor in the face of it all.”

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill will run at the Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Place SE, from July 15 to August 6, 2017. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00pm. PWYC previews will be Thursday and Friday July 13 and 14 at 8:00pm.