{"id":68288,"date":"2014-02-25T16:43:27","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T16:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2014\/02\/25\/audra-mcdonald-set-to-play-billie-holiday-on-broadway\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T04:07:46","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T04:07:46","slug":"audra-mcdonald-set-to-play-billie-holiday-on-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/audra-mcdonald-set-to-play-billie-holiday-on-broadway\/","title":{"rendered":"Audra McDonald Set to Play Billie Holiday on Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audra McDonald Set to Play Billie Holiday on Broadway<\/strong>Posted by Wilson Morales<\/p>\n

February 25, 2014<\/p>\n

Source: A reprint from THR <\/a><\/p>\n

\"Paley<\/a>Audra McDonald<\/strong> is set to play music legend Billie Holiday<\/strong>\u00a0 in the bio-drama, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill<\/em>, by Lanie Robertson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

McDonald, signed on for ten weeks, will begin preview performances there in Lady Day<\/em> on March 25, with opening night set for April 13.<\/p>\n

The play with songs will be staged by Lonny Price<\/strong>, who previously directed McDonald on Broadway in the 2007 musical revival, 110 in the Shade<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Constructed around a 1959 show at the intimate Philadelphia nightspot of the title near the end of Holiday’s life, Robertson’s play originally starred Lonette McKee<\/strong>\u00a0Off Broadway in 1986 and has been widely produced around the country since then. The lead role was later assumed by Eartha\u00a0Kitt<\/strong>, S. Epatha\u00a0Merkerson<\/strong>, Loretta Devine<\/strong> and Jackee\u00a0Harry<\/strong>. It depicts an ill-tempered heroin addict defined by her suffering yet able to convey both pain and joy through her soulful interpretations of the blues and jazz.<\/p>\n

\"Billie<\/a>Holiday standards to be performed by McDonald in the play include “God Bless the Child,” “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” “Strange Fruit” and “Tain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness.” McDonald and Price have been developing this revival together for more than two years.<\/p>\n

Known to television audiences for her role as a series regular on ABC’s Private Practice<\/em>, and as the Mother Abbess in NBC’s smash television event The Sound of Music Live<\/em>, McDonald has collected five Tony Awards over the years.<\/p>\n

She won best featured actress in a musical twice, in 1994 for Carousel<\/em> and in 1998 for Ragtime<\/em>. She also took honors for best featured actress in a play twice, in 1996 for Master Class<\/em> and in 2004 for A Raisin in the Sun<\/em>. McDonald finally won for lead actress in a musical in 2012 for The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess<\/em>, which also won for best revival.<\/p>\n

\"Jeffrey<\/a>Lead producers on that show, Jeffrey Richards<\/strong> and Jerry Frankel<\/strong>, are also behind Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. <\/em>The play is unrelated to another Billie Holiday biographical drama, titled Lady Day<\/em>, which had an Off Broadway run starring\u00a0Dee Dee Bridgewater<\/strong> last year.<\/p>\n

While no deals have yet been confirmed, news surfaced earlier this month that Oprah Winfrey<\/strong> is in talks to make her Broadway acting debut, starring opposite McDonald in a revival of the Marsha Norman<\/strong> play ‘night, Mother<\/em>, to be directed by George C. Wolfe<\/strong> (Lucky Guy<\/em>). That production is understood to be aiming for the 2015-16 season.<\/p>\n