December 12, 2003
THEATER BEAT
In both her technique and her mystique, Billie Holiday was as much
folk legend as jazz virtuoso. With her bruised, scratchy voice and inimitable
phrasing, she was a true American original--a tough, hard-living woman with a
luxuriant, even rarefied artistry.
In Lanie Robertson's light, ploddingly agreeable cabaret-play
"Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill," we're supposed to be watching
one of Holiday's final club performances, just months before she died in 1959
of a drug-related heart attack at age 44. By that year, the once-robust
chanteuse was a walking skeleton with more heroin than blood in her veins and a
voice that had become a froggy, imprecise warble.
Admittedly, an evening with that Billie might be a bit too
depressing, but Peggy Ann Blow, a fine actress and an accomplished singer,
could at least give us an impression of Holiday's tragic, hypnotic brokenness.
Instead she starts out a sassy, smilingly profane raconteur, recounting a life
of regrets and anecdotes. She sings with flawless diction--and a range bigger
than Holiday's single octave--such hits as "What a Little Moonlight Can
Do," "God Bless the Child" and "Strange Fruit." Then,
with unconvincing suddenness, she staggers backstage for an obligatory
injection and emerges a stumbling, weepy wreck clutching a Chihuahua in her
needle-bruised arms.
Danny Holgate's slick arrangements, played expertly by pianist
Herman Jackson and bassist Del Atkins, give us a cursory tour of Holiday's
diverse catalog--from blues stomps to perky standards to languorous ballads--without
giving us much sense of what made her special.
In short, this would make a reasonably diverting and informational
cabaret if we weren't asked to suspend our disbelief. It's a decent evening but
no Holiday.
"Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill," Fountain
Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., Hollywood. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Ends
Thursday, reopens Jan. 6-Feb. 26. $25. (323) 663-1525. Running time: 1 hour, 20
minutes.