Starring Anya Nebel !
Directed by Tom Flatt
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, a play with music by Lanie Robertson, takes place in South Philadelphia in March 1959. Billie Holiday is performing in a run-down bar, during one of her last performances four months before her death in July 1959. She sings, accompanied by Jimmy Powers on the piano, and also tells stories about her life.
Lady Day originally premiered in 1986 at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, and played both Off-Broadway and on Broadway.
Musical numbers, performed by Ms. Nebel and a live combo, include these and more:
- “I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone” (music by Buddy Johnson; lyrics by Buddy Johnson)
- “When a Woman Loves a Man” (music by Bernie Hanighen and Gordon Jenkins; lyrics by Johnny Mercer)
- “Crazy He Calls Me” (music by Carl Sigman; lyrics by Bob Russell)
- “Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)”, (music by Wesley Wilson; lyrics by Wesley Wilson)
- “God Bless the Child” (music by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.; lyrics by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.)
- “Somebody’s on My Mind” (music by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.; lyrics by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.)
- “Easy Livin’” (music by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin; lyrics by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin)
- “Strange Fruit” (music by Abel Meeropol; lyrics by Abel Meeropol)
- “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do” (music by Porter Grainger and Everett Robbins; lyrics by Porter Grainger and Everett Robbins)
- “What a Little Moonlight Can Do” (Reprise) (music by Harry Woods; lyrics by Harry Woods)
- “Deep Song” (music by George Cory and Douglass Cross; lyrics by George Cory, Douglass Cross)
Anya Randall Nebel has been a professional actress regionally, nationally, and internationally for the past 25 years. In 2004, she launched Winters Lane Productions (named after the street where her grandmother’s house stood) with the dream of bringing her theatre company to the Metropolitan Area to share and train the next generation of actors in the art of the craft of acting. She also assists with the programming at Anacostia Playhouse where she has both taught, produced and done costume design.
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill opens at the Anacostia Playhouse on July 15 and runs through August 6
Thursday–Saturday at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday at 3pm
Tickets: $40 general / $30 East of the river, Seniors, Students
Look out for our Special Benefit Fundraising performance Sunday, July 30th
Tickets and after party with food and entertainment: $80