Theater Works and Black Theatre Troupe Present LADY DAY... in June

LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL is a mesmerizing tribute to Billie Holiday. Proudly produced by Theater Works and Black Theatre Troupe audiences will spend an evening with Billie Holiday as she captivates one of her last audiences. Listen to a collection of her best know music interlaced with salty, often humorous memories. LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL is a riveting portrait of a gifted musician whose very soul was shaped by pain and anguish. Performing in the Mary Jane Gyder theater LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL will run June 10, 11 and 12. Tickets are only $25 / person and are on sale now!

Written by Lanie Robertson, directed by Ed Smith with musical direction by Lawrence O. Dabney and featuring Yolanda London this performance is a biographical celebration of Billie Holiday's life and music. Set in a small bar in Philadelphia in March of 1959 (just four short months before her death) this extraordinary play chronicles her rise to fame as a big band songstress - in spite of a segregated society - her troubled relationships and her final tragic end. Featuring 16 of the songs that made her famous.

At the lighter end, the songs include the likes of "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Them There Eyes." On a more personal note, there are "God Bless the Child" and "Don't Explain." And at the dark end, there is the song that transformed Holiday's career and, in the view of many, gave fierce and poignant voice to the struggle for human rights for African-Americans, "Strange Fruit."

Billie Holiday played by Yolanda London will reminisce about her past; about her mother the 'Duchess' and her tendency to go for men who are no good for her. As the evening progresses these interludes get longer, the stories darker in content. Life has been tough for this lady and it shows; clad in satin she fidgets with her dress and frequently totters up to the piano on precarious heels before popping off stage for a steadying shot of her own particular 'moonlight.'

Tickets are now on sale both online at theaterworks.org and at the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts. The Box Office is open from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. daily and may be reached at 623-815-7930. LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL performs June 10th - 12th on the Mary Jane Gyder Stage. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are only $25.00 / person (prices include service and processing fees). Theater Works is located in the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts (the theater with the copper roof) at 8355 W Peoria Avenue, Peoria.

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