Review: Audra McDonald Reaffirms Her Singular Brilliance in HBO's LADY DAY

There is an undeniable electricity that the world's greatest bring to everything that they do. There is something nearly tangible, yet dizzyingly elusive about watching legends at their best; that is how I felt when six-time Tony-winner Audra McDonald became the troubled Jazz icon Billie Holiday in tonight's broadcast of LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL on HBO. Though the material itself doesn't always rise to the level of its star's genius, the transformative power of McDonald's talent transports you into a completely different time and place; namely March 1959 at the intimate Emerson's Bar and Grill in Philadelphia.

I did not see the production that opened on Broadway in 2014, so I came to the special with fresh eyes and ears, save for what I knew of McDonald's history-making performance and the real-life Holiday.

Playwright Lanie Robertson's script is littered with a never ending line of depressing exposition about Holiday's troubled past of racism, rape, and drug abuse, but McDonald appears so comfortable in her character's skin that she takes the often ham-handed dialogue and uses it to build a fully-realized version of Holiday. Very shortly into the film, it is easy to lose yourself and forget that you are watching a master portraying the singer, and not an actual performance from Lady Day herself.

Late in the broadcast, Holiday painfully exclaims, "Singing is how you feel," and with each note, McDonald makes you feel. Whether it is the fear of the ever present racism that stalked her career, the regret of misbegotten love, or the pain of seeing her dreams extinguished before her eyes, the emotion that Holiday feels is laid bare in front of you.

The film features spine-tingling versions of the standards "I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone," "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," God Bless the Child," "T'ain't Nobody's Business If I Do," and more.

McDonald is musical theatre's most celebrated soprano since Barbara Cook, if not of all time, but her familiar soaring vocals have been replaced with the faded tambour of a drug and alcohol-riddled Holiday just four months before her death. After years of abuse, Lady Day was not the vocalist in 1959 that she once was, but McDonald imbues her take on Holiday's voice with the evocative tone of an expert storyteller, complete with the late legend's signature vocal flourishes and idiosyncrasies.

It seems cliché to call McDonald's performance a tour de force, but there is no better description. Under the direction of Lonny Price, as she was on Broadway, McDonald elevates the otherwise pedestrian material to something ethereal. The first half of the broadcast is charming, but doesn't capture the magic that I imagine was present at Circle in the Square, but when Lady Day begins her heroin-fueled breakdown after retrieving her dog Pepi, McDonald flexes her considerable performance muscles while staggering around the stage, baring her soul through a haze of drugs and booze.

Filmed in front of a small audience at New Orleans' Cafe Brasil, the set's intimacy allows McDonald to wander amongst the crowd and engage them in her stories. Despite Holiday's confusion and penchant for repeating herself, she does manage to illuminate a number of painful episodes in her life, mostly involving race, fame, and abuse; it is in these scenes where McDonald most shines.

It is interesting to note that last year, HBO aired an Emmy-winning film about the career and life of blues legend BESSIE Smith, played by Queen Latifah, and less than a year later, they are now broadcasting a film about another female, African-American singer whose artistic prowess was only matched by her tumultuous personal life. Coincidentally, in LADY DAY, Holliday tells a number of stories about Smith's life and career.

Shelton Becton, who is currently serving as the Music Director for McDonald's Broadway return in SHUFFLE ALONG OR THE MAKING OF THE MUSICAL SENSATION OF 1921 AND ALL THAT FOLLOWED, reprises his role as Holiday's pianist and confidant Jimmy Powers in the HBO broadcast.

Theatre fans need no further proof of McDonald's singular brilliance, but HBO's LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL provides just that. Billie Holiday was once in a generation, but there will never be anyone like Audra McDonald.

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What did you think of Audra's return to the role that earned her a sixth Tony Award? Let me know in the comments below, or on Twitter @BWWMatt.

Banner Image:
Audra McDonald. Photo Credit: HBO

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