Tuesday night; an unusual night to attend a community theatre show, but that's exactly where I was. Limelight in St. Augustine added one more show at the end of their run of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, and I'm so glad they did! They sold out ALL of the other shows; with the additional one, I was able to get down and see it.
Lady Day is a cabaret style, one woman show about Billie Holiday. From the script publisher's website: "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. More than a dozen musical numbers are interlaced with salty, often humorous, reminiscences to project a riveting portrait of the lady and her music." The show itself, would I call it "riveting"? Not Act I. Act I was, in my opinion, a little bland. Yes, we hear a good bit of Billie's history, but maybe because she's trying to do this gig straight (not drunk or high), it doesn't have the emotional range of Act II. Not having seen the script or the show itself, I don't know if it is written for 2 acts or if it is sometimes done as a single act show. In looking at some reviews done elsewhere, I saw one where the intermission was in a different place than where it was on Tuesday night. I mention this for one reason - if my memory serves me correctly, I love how Anne Craft structured the intermission - the same song that was being done at the end of Act I started Act II. They didn't bring the lights down and wait for everyone to get quiet; the singer and pianist just walked on stage and picked up where they left off.
Act II - wow. Act II was powerful. Billie finally couldn't take it anymore and ran off stage for a fix. When she comes back, she definately a different person, and now has the lack of inhibitions to allow the depth of her stories to show. The most emotional of songs are in this part of the show.
Finally, and again I don't know if the script calls for this or if Anne brought it to life, the show's ending. Can't remember the name of the last song, but Billie's singing, it gets softer until there's no sound coming out, yet her mouth is still moving, there's still expression and small gestures. Then the song ends and the lights go down.
Miranda Lawson (pictured above) was superb in the role. Her singing was clear; emotions were true. She had the humor down; her sarcasm was biting and her pain evident. When I talked with her after the show, I told her I didn't know how she got through Act II - she basically said she wondered the same thing every night. I've seen Miranda in a number of shows locally, and she's definately a very, very talented young lady.
There is a song in Act II that bothered me horribly. It's a song called Strange Fruit, and I'll paste the lyrics below. Miranda's delivery of this song was so perfect that I could clearly picture it in my mind, and I couldn't watch her at the end. I felt ashamed at how some in the generations prior to us treated black people. Bigotry is something I cannot wrap my mind around, that someone could treat another human being in that manner no matter what their reason. As much as it horrifies me, I'm glad that I cannot fathom it.
Well, I really didn't set out to write a review of the show, but it was one of the positives in my day. Congratulations to Limelight for having two shows, back to back, that sold out so many nights. That is wonderful!!!
Strange Fruit
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leavesBlood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
for the rain to gather
for the wind to suck
for the sun to rot
for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
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