Review: Cultural Fusion's LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL is Smooth as Silk

Perfectly encapsulating the great singer Billie Holiday is no easy feat. The legendary jazz singer with a career spanning over thirty years was a mystery to many people - she was beautiful and talented but her personal life was shrouded in drug and alcohol addiction and a myriad of abusive relationships. On paper, it's easy to leave it at that and move on - another celebrity sob story. But in Cultural Fusion's production of LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL, words normally associated with Holiday such as "revered", "pain" and "soulful" take on a whole new meaning, and Holiday's story is so much more than that.

Staged in 1959 in a city Holiday loathed (Philadelphia), the play takes place at Emerson's Bar and Grill and is a collection of a number of songs sung by Holiday throughout her career intertwined with brief interludes of her telling personal stories. I appreciated the set as the show was held in one of the Dr. Phillip's Center for the Performing Arts' smaller theaters and the room was set up to resemble a 50s style club - complete with cocktails and cigarette girls making their rounds. It transported me into that time and place immediately, and I began to understand why it's been said that listening to Holiday in a small club was the best way to hear her.

Holiday was played by Caila Carter who captured the true essence of Holiday perfectly. Carter completely submerged herself in Holiday, but not to a point where it felt like she was trying to too hard to BE her. Capturing that unique Holiday tone and style can be challenging, and done incorrectly it can be seen as distasteful mockery. But this wasn't the case with Carter. She brought just enough of a change to her voice to make me feel like she was Holiday, without the feeling that she was simply putting on a voice for a part. Sassy and salty at times, we see Holiday swig back booze while telling of us of her past relationships, her experiences growing up and performing as an African American women, and her respect and love for two other musical greats - Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong. Songs such as "Stranger Fruit" and "God Bless the Child" made me see not only why Holiday was the soulful beacon of a generation, but the true meaning and story behind some of her biggest songs as well.

Through it all, Holiday is noticeably effected by the way these stories take her back in time and Carter portrayed Holiday's episodes of happiness, rage and depression in such a smooth way. Carter navigated through Holiday's various moods perfectly. She could be warm and funny one minute and brooding and lost in thought the next - but I never wanted her back and forth storytelling to end as her sharpness between the two was completely on point.

LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL played at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts from Sept. 9 - 11 and was an absolute joy to see. New to the Central Florida theater scene, Cultural Fusion is a non-profit theater company that seeks to produce works by and for the African-American and Hispanic communities. They've certainly set the bar high as this production was awe-inspiring and truly wonderful in every sense of the word. I can't wait to see what they do next!

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Were you as transfixed with LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL as I was? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Don't forget to follow BWW Orlando on Facebook and Twitter by clicking below! You can also connect with me about this show and all things theatre by following me on Twitter @libbychamps.

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