Cast Announced For Billie Holiday Musical LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL at Playhouse On Park

LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL by Lanie Robertson will run at Playhouse on Park September 28 - October 16, 2022. This will be the first production in Playhouse on Park's 14th Main Stage Season. LADY DAY will be directed by Stephanie Pope Lofgren. Music Direction by Nygel D. Robinson.

The time is 1959. The place is a seedy bar in Philadelphia. The audience is about to witness one of Billie Holiday's last performances, given four months before her death. In Robertson's Tony award-winning play, Holiday engages the audience with salty, often humorous reminiscences of her troubled life as a traveling performer in a segregated south. With the help of her piano man, Jimmy Powers, she lets music tell her story, sharing soulful and heart-wrenching songs from her memorable canon including: "Strange Fruit," "God Bless the Child," "When a Woman Loves a Man," and "Ain't Nobody's Business if I Do."

Stephanie Pope Lofgren (Director) is an actress, singer, dancer, writer, director, choreographer, producer, voice actor, performance coach and a musical theater veteran with a career spanning over 35 years. She has appeared in over 10 Broadway shows and recently received both Connecticut Critics Circle Award and Regional Theater Award nominations for her portrayals of Camila Rosario in Lin Manuel Miranda's In The Heights at Playhouse On Park and Tanya in North Carolina Theater's Production of Mama Mia!. Broadway and touring credits include the revival of Pippin, for which she received an Astaire Award nomination, an ACCA Award and the beloved Legacy Robe, Chicago (Velma Kelly),Thoroughly Modern Millie (Muzzy Van Hossmere), Fosse (Leading Player), Smokey Joe's Cafe (Brenda), A Funny Thing... Forum (Gymnasia), Kiss of The Spider Woman (Stand-by for Ms. Chita Rivera), Jelly's Last Jam (The Hunnies) and The Will Rogers Follies... just to name a few. Stephanie has the distinct honor of having been hand-picked to work with the legendary director/choreographer, Bob Fosse, along with his wife and muse, Gwen Verdon on her first two Broadway shows, the revival of Sweet Charity starring Debbie Allen and Bebe Neuwirth and Bob Fosse's Big Deal. She holds the distinct and treasured title of "Fosse Dancer" and is one of a handful of Fosse reconstructeurs teaching Fosse repertoire and Master Classes on behalf of The Verdon Fosse Legacy LLC. In addition to her work on the stage, screen and television, Ms. Pope is a producer with several projects in development including a musical she is creating with Drama Desk Award winner, Chesney Snow, titled Grin and Bare It and an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's A Touch of The Poet. She most recently produced a new play written by Lloyd Khaner, directed by Tonya Pinkins and starred Chuck Cooper and Robert Cuccioli for the 2021 TRU Virtual Play Reading Series.

Danielle Herbert (Billie Holiday) is a New York-based actress/singer best known for her role as crazy inmate Babs Babson" in seasons 3 and 5 of the hit Netflix TV series "Orange is the New Black." She made her Broadway debut in the Duke Ellington musical revue AFTER MIDNIGHT. Danielle was recently in the Broadway national touring company of BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL. She is slated to perform in the new off-Broadway musical STARDUST ROAD, which will pay tribute to the acclaimed music of Hoagy Carmichael, later this year. Danielle has sung back-up vocals and toured nationally with Grammy-winning R&B singer Jill Scott, along with Queen Latifah and Erykah Badu; and has performed at some of the most notable regional theaters in her hometown of Philly, including The Walnut, The Arden, The Wilma, Freedom; as well as others in New York, Chicago, and California.

Nygel D. Robinson (Jimmy Powers)'s select musical theatre credits include Bro. Davis/ musical director in THE AMEN CORNER (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Jimmy Powers in LADY DAY (North Carolina Theatre), and Actor/Musician in THE ALL NIGHT STRUT (Milwaukee Rep). Nygel is the co creator of MEXODUS, a new lived looped musical, alongside Brian Quijada and is a recording artist/music producer.

About Playhouse on Park: Managed under the direction of Playhouse Theatre Group, Inc., Playhouse on Park is Greater Hartford's award-winning destination for the performing arts. Playhouse on Park offers a wide range of thought-provoking, inspiring and thoroughly enjoyable professional theatre productions that leave audiences often smiling, sometimes crying, and always talking about what they have just experienced.

Tickets are now on sale for LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL, and range from $45-$55. Group rates available! Student and Senior discounts are also available. Previews are on September 28th & 29th, with all tickets at $25. Student Rush is $15 cash ($17.50 w/ credit card), available 15 minutes prior to curtain. Lunch Time Special tickets are available between 12pm - 1pm for the performance occurring that same day/evening. They are $15 cash ($17.50 w/ credit card). Student Rush and Lunch Time Special tickets must be purchased in person at the Playhouse on Park box office. 2pm matinees are on Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Evening performances are at 7:30pm on Wednesday and Thursday, and at 8pm on Friday and Saturday. There will be a talk back with the cast after each Sunday matinee.

Additionally, subscriptions are currently on sale for Playhouse on Park's 14th Main Stage season. LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL is the first show in the subscription series. Subscribers save 20% off individual ticket prices. Purchase your subscription now in order to secure tickets in advance for all Main Stage productions in the upcoming season! Patrons choose to subscribe because they are guaranteed the same performance day and seats for each production. Plus, tickets can be exchanged to a new date if necessary, as long as the exchange is requested prior to the original date. Subscribe now to see LADY DAY along with August Wilson's FENCES, Paula Vogel's INDECENT, the world premiere of WEBSTER'S BITCH by Jaqueline Bircher, and BANDSTAND with music by Richard Oberacker, and book & lyrics by Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker. Subscribers can also add stop/time dance theater (Playhouse on Park's resident dance company) at a 20% savings!

COVID-19 Policy: Vaccination card checks and masks are not required. However, masks are strongly recommended.

To post a comment, you must register and login.