Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Miles away from the legend

Ion Theatre searches for the reality behind the drama with Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill

Cashae Monya as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill at Ion Theatre
Cashae Monya as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill at Ion Theatre

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill

  • URBN CNTR 4 the Arts, 3708 Sixth Avenue, Hillcrest
  • $15 - $35

Were she still alive, Billie Holiday would have turned 100 last April. That would have surprised the hell out of “Lady Day,” since she lived an epic life and died July 17, 1959, of complications from drugs and alcohol. Throughout her last weeks in New York’s Metropolitan Hospital, she was under arrest for drug possession. Police even guarded her room.

Lanie Robertson’s 85-minute musical-play takes place in March, 1959, two months before Billie goes to the hospital. She appears at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, a small, South Philly club, and she’s miles from the legendary jazz singer, who could light up the universe and whom Frank Sinatra swore was his greatest influence.

Sponsored
Sponsored

She’s a wreck. She doesn’t wear her two signature gardenias over the left ear. She’s tipsy (that clear fluid she drinks from a tumbler isn’t water) and ill at ease.

“I never got on too well in Philly,” she says, referring to her trial and conviction for drug possession in a local courthouse. And maybe this memory stirs others and prompts her to sing songs and relive the pain of abusive relationships and racist evils she can’t erase with self-medication.

She talks about becoming a “new” Billie. No more flowers or “moonlight” (a veiled reference to heroin?). But maybe the critical DJs are right: the original Billie Holiday, all 200 pounds of her, has shrunk. The voice is scratchy, the verve, blunted, the eyes half-dead.

In some senses she’s already in the grave — or at the hospital. When a song “finds” her — as with “Crazy He Calls Me,” “Pig Foot (And a Bottle of Beer),” and the terrifying “Strange Fruit” — singing’s her life raft, pulling her back to fresh air.

Ion Theatre’s production had a “give it a week” feel. Much of the drama felt contrived. The playwright has obviously calculated Billie’s breakdowns for effect. And the performers were a few rehearsals away from the spontaneous urgencies of the moment.

“Lady Day” is one demanding role. The performer must look and sound like Billie Holiday, in decline, and do long, often horrific monologues between songs. Plus, her emotions must rise and plummet on separate tracks.

Director Claudio Raygoza has cast multi-talented Cashae Monya as Billie. She’s too young, and comes on too strong at first. But she delivers the biggies (especially “God Bless the Child” and “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do”) and has the outline of Billie’s bipolar nosedive in place (no mean feat). A very good effort, at times even special. Filling in details and more immediacy could come in time.

Brandon Sherman plays Billie’s pianist/therapist Jimmy. He provides excellent accompaniment, but he reveals the book’s creaky tricks when he must come to her aid.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Could this be Queen Bee’s last North Park fab fair?

Developers eye site, but historical designation may stop them
Next Article

Larry Turner – the man who would be San Diego's mayor

Ex-Marine, cop answers the personal questions
Cashae Monya as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill at Ion Theatre
Cashae Monya as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill at Ion Theatre

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill

  • URBN CNTR 4 the Arts, 3708 Sixth Avenue, Hillcrest
  • $15 - $35

Were she still alive, Billie Holiday would have turned 100 last April. That would have surprised the hell out of “Lady Day,” since she lived an epic life and died July 17, 1959, of complications from drugs and alcohol. Throughout her last weeks in New York’s Metropolitan Hospital, she was under arrest for drug possession. Police even guarded her room.

Lanie Robertson’s 85-minute musical-play takes place in March, 1959, two months before Billie goes to the hospital. She appears at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, a small, South Philly club, and she’s miles from the legendary jazz singer, who could light up the universe and whom Frank Sinatra swore was his greatest influence.

Sponsored
Sponsored

She’s a wreck. She doesn’t wear her two signature gardenias over the left ear. She’s tipsy (that clear fluid she drinks from a tumbler isn’t water) and ill at ease.

“I never got on too well in Philly,” she says, referring to her trial and conviction for drug possession in a local courthouse. And maybe this memory stirs others and prompts her to sing songs and relive the pain of abusive relationships and racist evils she can’t erase with self-medication.

She talks about becoming a “new” Billie. No more flowers or “moonlight” (a veiled reference to heroin?). But maybe the critical DJs are right: the original Billie Holiday, all 200 pounds of her, has shrunk. The voice is scratchy, the verve, blunted, the eyes half-dead.

In some senses she’s already in the grave — or at the hospital. When a song “finds” her — as with “Crazy He Calls Me,” “Pig Foot (And a Bottle of Beer),” and the terrifying “Strange Fruit” — singing’s her life raft, pulling her back to fresh air.

Ion Theatre’s production had a “give it a week” feel. Much of the drama felt contrived. The playwright has obviously calculated Billie’s breakdowns for effect. And the performers were a few rehearsals away from the spontaneous urgencies of the moment.

“Lady Day” is one demanding role. The performer must look and sound like Billie Holiday, in decline, and do long, often horrific monologues between songs. Plus, her emotions must rise and plummet on separate tracks.

Director Claudio Raygoza has cast multi-talented Cashae Monya as Billie. She’s too young, and comes on too strong at first. But she delivers the biggies (especially “God Bless the Child” and “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do”) and has the outline of Billie’s bipolar nosedive in place (no mean feat). A very good effort, at times even special. Filling in details and more immediacy could come in time.

Brandon Sherman plays Billie’s pianist/therapist Jimmy. He provides excellent accompaniment, but he reveals the book’s creaky tricks when he must come to her aid.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Could this be Queen Bee’s last North Park fab fair?

Developers eye site, but historical designation may stop them
Next Article

JamPinoy: one cafeteria line, two cultures

Pick your island cuisine in Vista's new Jamaican-slash-Filipino eatery
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader