Did anybody watch Lady Day's Emerson Bar & Grill on TV?

[Merboy]

I thought that Audra McDonald was just phenomenal. She totally deserved that Tony. It's no wonder why she's the Meryl Streep of Broadway. She's magnificent in everything she does. I saw her in 1994 in "Carousel" and she was divine in that too.

[bostonman]

I enjoyed Audra's performance (as I usually do in general, lol). I thought she found a decent balance between an imitation of Holiday (which would be the trap for any actor) and finding her own way into the performance.

 

The down side - sorry to say, I just really hate the play. I hated it when I saw another (quite competent) production several years ago, and I didn't like it any better with Audra in it. I also didn't quite buy the concept for this TV adaptation (especially the planted but very unresponsive audience) - I think it might have been more effective to have filmed the actual Broadway production instead.

[+ WilliamM]

I think it might have been more effective to have filmed the actual Broadway production instead.

 

I agree. The Broadway show did have the feel of a club, and it's better to see any performer in person (most of the time).

[+ purplekow]

This was just too hard to watch. Audra McDonald was excellent, but I needed to turn it off as Holiday's drunken desperation was more depressing than entertaining. Turned on Grease!! Live. Happy and Peppy and Bursting with Love.

[bostonman]

Though I assume that, like the NBC presentations so far, that so-called "Grease Live" was done to prerecorded orchestra tracks? Shame. And that makes it very much not live. At least the Lady Day band was, actually, live.

 

I agree about Lady Day, though. And it's not just about the drunken/heroin-induced portrayal, it's also the rambling nature of the narrative, which doesn't seem to know if it's supposed to be a performance or a biography. It's just a mess of a script. Hearing all those great songs redeems the show to an extent (and Audra's take on "Strange Fruit" is indeed a dramatic highlight of this production), but I really wish the show itself could be more cabaret, less endless ramble. (The ramble having less to do with Holiday's intoxicated state and more to do with the playwright's lack of focus.)

[bostonman]

Happy and Peppy and Bursting with Love.

 

And of course that's from The Odd Couple (TV series), not Grease, lol. (But I figure you knew that lol.)

[Merboy]

I also noticed too it was set in 1959 I think, but the audience was dressed in contemporary clothes. None of the hairstyles on the women looked like 1959.

[+ Cash4Trash]

It's set in Emerson's Bar in Philadelphia, a place where she performed.. After her drug conviction in NY she could no longer perform in the state. It is intentionally rambling - she was a mess and died 4 months after this

performance. Audra told of her preparation: 1) read and highlighted every bit on info she could find and went over it before every performance 2) listen to every song in the original recording before each show and then

listened to her last recording so she could catch the voice after the drugs and booze had taken their toll. She was a rambling mess at that performance and that is what the show tries to recapture.

[bostonman]

The playwright has said that she made up the name "Emerson's Bar And Grill." I did find something that said that the club might have been called "Emerson's Tavern."

[+ Cash4Trash]

Emerson's Tavern it was.

http://phillyjazz.us/2015/02/02/emersons-bar-grill/

[bostonman]

Also, to be clear, it's not that I object to Holiday's rambling throughout the play - that makes sense. It's more what the playwright makes her ramble on about, which seems to be partly the emotional outpourings one would expect, but also a lot of exposition-ish stuff that doesn't really sound like it would come so naturally out of Holiday's thoughts.

 

I'm sure that Robertson felt that a lot of Holiday's background needed to be explained for the audience's sake, but the result is a show that's part biography, part Holiday, and to me it comes off heavy-handed and awkward. It seems to me that other shows with similar setups (Souvenir, the play about Florence Foster Jenkins comes to mind - or on a much larger scale, Jersey Boys) have found a much better balance of how to both tell the story of the main character(s) AND do re-enactments at the same time. I'm just too aware of the writing in Lady Day as I watch it, instead of really being able to immerse myself in Holiday's performance and talk.

 

Plus, I think that the dialogue writing for the pianist, Jimmy Powers, is embarrassingly bad. He either needs to be more involved in the piece, or less - but as is he just feels like some awkward guy in the background, which makes for really ineffective theatre. I certainly understand why Holiday is (appropriately) a mess during the show, but I don't get why Powers is made to be such a cypher.

[EZEtoGRU]

Fast forward to now. Audra McDonald is now doing the Lady Day show in London until September. I saw it about 10 days ago. It was fantastic. I'm so happy I went. As on Broadway, the theatre was set-up somewhat like a nightclub. The first few rows of theatre seats were removed and replaced with club tables and chairs. There were tables/chairs with audience members sitting in them on the stage as well. Quite clever. One of the most memorable theatre events that I've seen in a long time.

[+ WilliamM]

I have an African-American friend who saw Billie Holiday when was young. After seeing a Sunday matinee performance of Emerson Grill, I happen to see Audra McDonald leave the theater. Nobody else was around. I decided to tell her about Marty. She was interested, and asked if she could sign my playbill to Marty. Marty was trilled. He's at least 93 now and still occasionally talks about Holiday.

[+ WilliamM]

Also, to be clear, it's not that I object to Holiday's rambling throughout the play - that makes sense. It's more what the playwright makes her ramble on about, which seems to be partly the emotional outpourings one would expect, but also a lot of exposition-ish stuff that doesn't really sound like it would come so naturally out of Holiday's thoughts.

 

I'm sure that Robertson felt that a lot of Holiday's background needed to be explained for the audience's sake, but the result is a show that's part biography, part Holiday, and to me it comes off heavy-handed and awkward. It seems to me that other shows with similar setups (Souvenir, the play about Florence Foster Jenkins comes to mind - or on a much larger scale, Jersey Boys) have found a much better balance of how to both tell the story of the main character(s) AND do re-enactments at the same time. I'm just too aware of the writing in Lady Day as I watch it, instead of really being able to immerse myself in Holiday's performance and talk.

 

Plus, I think that the dialogue writing for the pianist, Jimmy Powers, is embarrassingly bad. He either needs to be more involved in the piece, or less - but as is he just feels like some awkward guy in the background, which makes for really ineffective theatre. I certainly understand why Holiday is (appropriately) a mess during the show, but I don't get why Powers is made to be such a cypher.

 

If you did see the show on Broadway, just on TV, it's a very different experience. I have never been able to watch "All The Way" complete on HBO for the same reason.

[LaffingBear]

Yes, I watched it.

[bostonman]

If you did see the show on Broadway, just on TV, it's a very different experience. I have never been able to watch "All The Way" complete on HBO for the same reason.

 

No - I'm basing my comments, as I mentioned earlier, on my experience with the play in the past. This has nothing to do with TV vs. being in the house. I just don't think it's a well-written play.