Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill

I've seen this onstage twice and was mesmerized by it both times. I saw this on HBO when I was in New York and thought it was terrific. I've seen Audra McDonald onstage twice, in Ragtime and Shuffle Along, and she was outstanding in both. She works hard to sound like Holliday in this remarkable biopic, and it's a vast improvement over Lady Sings the Blues, which was essentially a black version of Funny Girl. (Nicky Arnstein wasn't the hero Omar Sharif made him out to be, just as Louis MacKay wasn't the rescuer Billy Dee Williams played. They were both users who got plenty out of these women, only to abandon them when they were really needed. Don't miss this one!

Recently I saw the show in London and was mesmerised. Having been told that it had been filmed by HBO I managed to track down a recording. Such a wonderful reminder of a brilliant night! Was Audra performing or had Billie come back amongst us? I gave the cigarette and lit it for Billie (oops, Audra!) and she acknowledged me when she took her applause at the end. I was choked. I have seen her concert at the Leicester Square Theatre in 2016 and a more different show cannot be imagined, though also brilliant. Audra is such a great actor and singer.

I saw this in New York live with Audra McDonald in 2014. It was the most convincing acting that I had ever seen--especially live. The story and music have haunted me since that night. I always tell people that that night I did not see Audra McDonald perform; I saw Billie Holiday perform. From the moment it started, I was captivated. When I found out about it being on HBO, I was ecstatic. I would put the New York performance at comfortable 10. The only reason I am ranking this as a 9 is because I don't know what it's like to experience the HBO version without comparing it. There are very minute differences about the two; they're nearly identical. However, the HBO version is slightly less convincing at least in the beginning. From God Bless the Child to the end it's painfully intoxicating. I highly recommend it, and if you decide to watch it, take away all distractions. Imagine you are actually in the bar watching one of the greatest jazz musicians in history.

I fell in love with Billie Holiday in 1985 while researching her life for a project in 3rd Grade. Up to that point, I thought Billie Holiday's life was what I saw every year when they used to run "Lady Sings The Blues" every year on TV. I don't even know that I had seen any real pictures of her (remember this was the Pre-Internet and the Card Catalog era). When you wanted to learn about somebody back then, you had to do RESEARCH in the library, so you didn't waste time...I found everything I could on her and my 8 year old brain absorbed her image from the pics and the sound of her voice from the records the library had in storage...From that day to this (some 35 years later) Lady remains for me the MOTHER of all improvising singers to come after her. I have never seen ANY documentary, any movie (especially that horribly inaccurate LSB), or any impersonation (save Marla Gibbs' turn at Crazy He Calls me which is the ONLY other time I literally heard Lady come back to life through a singer) that did what this production has done! Kudos to the writers, producers, staff and especially to Audra and Mr. Becton who somehow transport the viewer into the lap of the late Great Billie Holiday. It isn't an impersonation show...it's borderline seance. It is PERFECT. And done with a great deal of respect and reverence for its subject even in the face of being unapologetically honest from every possible perspective of anyone involved in the story. If you (like me) were never blessed to see Lady onstage live...and I have searched unsuccessfully for live video footage of Lady in a club setting all my life...this is IT.

This portrayal of Lady Day was absolutely wonderful I was emersed with sentiment. Reminds me how I felt when I saw "Lady sings the Blues" for the first time. Loved it!