We’ll Be Seeing You! Lady Day, Starring Tony Winner Audra McDonald, Begins Performances on Broadway

We wished on the moon, and it’s finally coming true. Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill begins performances on Broadway March 25, with five-time Tony winner Audra McDonald headlining as blues legend Billie Holiday. The show will play a limited ten-week engagement at the Circle in the Square Theatre with an official opening on April 13.

The bio-show, written by Lanie Robertson and directed by Lonny Price, leaves audiences witness to one of the last performances of Holiday’s lifetime. Set in a small Philadelphia bar in 1959, Lady Day recounts Holiday’s life through the songs that made her famous. McDonald will perform 18 numbers as the late singer, including “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” “Tain't Nobody’s Biz-ness” and “God Bless the Child.”

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill debuted off-Broadway in 1986 starring Lonette McKee and has been produced around the country and internationally ever since. Tony and Grammy winner Dee Dee Bridgewater starred in another show, entitled just Lady Day, off-Broadway that closed earlier this year.