The Boca Raton Theatre Guild presents Lanie Robertson’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grille starring Paulette Dozier. The focus of the show is the songs of Bille Holiday, broken up by reminiscent monologues that provide glimpses of her past. The 90 minute show tells of the heartache that made jazz legend Billie Holiday the great performer known as Lady Day.
Jazz singer and songwriter Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Harris on April 7, 1915. She was nicknamed “Lady Day” by her friend and musical partner Lester Young. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She became a major influence on jazz and pop singing. She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably “God Bless the Child”, “Don’t Explain”, “Fine and Mellow”, and “Lady Sings the Blues”. She also became famous for singing “Easy Living”, “Good Morning Heartache”, and “Strange Fruit”.

“Much of the suffering Billie had to endure is unfathomable, yet she managed to forge ahead and live her life as best she could just because she wanted to sing,” Dozier says. “For her, singing was living and she fought to live by way of her singing. So many times you hear stories about people who say they can’t get a break in life, as if the world is against them. And what do they do, either complain to no end or give up at the first sign of difficulty. Or worse, blame everybody else for their problem. Billie Holiday didn’t point the blame or give up and stop singing. There’s a lesson that can be learned about the fortitude she had.”

This Boca Raton Theatre Guild production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grille will be appearing April 27 – 29, 2012 at The Willow Theatre. The Willow Theatre is located inside Sugar Sand Park at 301 South Military Trail in Boca Raton, Florida. Performances are Thursdays – Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00pm. All tickets are $18, and are on sale now. Student tickets (with I.D.) are $10 on February 25th only. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Willow Theatre box office at 561-347-3948. For Group Sales call 561-948-2601. For more information please visit the Boca Raton Theatre Guild’s website at: www.brtg.org.