FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 12, 2007 SOULFUL HIT SHOW COMES TO STACKNER CABARET Stackner Cabaret LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL is intimately set in a small bar in 1959 Philadelphia. Billie Holiday, praised as one of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time, sings and intermittently tells stories of her life for her friends. Just as it is late in the evening, it is “equally late in Billie Holiday’s life.” She will die of cirrhosis and heart failure in four months. This soulful play reenacts one of Holiday’s last stage appearances. The life and times of Billie Holiday are evocatively portrayed through song and story; her difficult life becomes readily apparent. Heroin and alcohol addiction, destructive relationships and constant discrimination contribute to Holiday’s emotional and physical demise. Despite her imminent death and hard times, this play is up-beat in every way. Holiday’s humor and joy are prevalent on stage; her obliviousness to her situation and her continuing optimistic attitude reveal the extreme pain of her life. LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL allows a modern-day audience to see a favorite American jazz singer come back to life and re-tell her story. Playwright Lanie Robertson has written numerous plays including: A PENNY FOR THE GUY, ALFRED STIEGLITZ LOVES O’KEEFFE, BACK COUNTY CRIMES, BRINGING MOTHER DOWN, CANNIBAL’S WALTZ, IN SEPARATE CHAMBERS, LAST GAS TILL TURNPIKE, NASTY LITTLE SECRETS, NAZI WOMEN, NOBODY LONESOME FOR ME, SILVER SKATES, STRINGBEAN, THE INSANITY OF MARY GIRARD and WHAT DOES A BLIND LEOPARD SEE? Robertson has produced plays throughout the U.S. and also abroad in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the U. K. He has been the recipient of an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Kliban Award and a Berrilla Kerr Award. Robertson is a member of The Dramatists Guild and The Writers Guild of America, East. Director David Hunter Koch makes his home in Seattle, WA performing, producing and directing theater, video and film. He created the Cabaret de Paris, Seattle’s preeminent Cabaret theater, where he produced and directed over 60 musical productions and was named Seattle’s Theatrical Entrepreneur of the Year. His Milwaukee Rep directing credits include KING OF COOL, JAZZ ROYALTY, CHAPS! and ELLINGTON: THE LIFE & MUSIC OF THE DUKE. Koch recently commented, “Everyone loves a ‘star.’ Whether in movies, the theater or the music industry, there’s an insatiable need to know about the lives of public figures we’ve dubbed as ‘stars.’ Yet, for all the adoration that is shown to these lucky few, for their beauty and talents, we are also equally titillated by their human foibles and falls from grace. No one felt this pull of public adoration and loathing more than the great jazz diva, Billie Holiday. . . . her life story is a tabloid reporter’s dream: A rise to fame from humble beginnings; hit records; performing with the top names in jazz; peppered with abandonment, abuse, prostitution, bad marriages, drugs, arrests and a triumphant comeback concert at Carnegie Hall. How do we begin to understand such a complex rollercoaster life? What happened to young Eleanor Fagan, who grew up in Baltimore singing along with the records of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong, to become Billie Holiday, the musical legend, and yet end her final days chained to a hospital bed under house arrest? In Lanise Robertson’s exquisite musical play, LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL, we get the chance to meet this fascinating woman, in an intimate setting, in what was to be the last year of her life. We hear from Billie how she came to be. We learn about her life and hear her famous songs, but more importantly we get the chance to see the real Lady Day with all her beauty and faults. ” Included in the cast of LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL are Regina Williams (Billie Holiday) and William Knowles (Jimmy Powers). This will be Regina Williams debut performance at The Rep. Based in the Twin Cities, Regina has wowed audiences at renowned venues such as the Guthrie Theater, Penumbra Theatre Company, Mixed Blood Theater and the jazz hot-spot The Dakota. William Knowles returns to The Rep. His previous Rep credits include ELLINGTON: THE LIFE & MUSIC OF THE DUKE, JAZZ ROYALTY, KING OF COOL and DINAH WAS. He is a Milwaukee native. Asked about of Billie Holiday and her music, Ms. Williams, said, “The melodies are not what they seem. When we break them down note by note to hear and achieve the ‘Billie flavor,’ her storytelling genius is apparent. That falling-off-a-note thing she does that makes us feel the sorrow, so dark, eerie and haunting. Her style is to subtly bend notes – just so with color and light. Her music truly reflected her life – the playfulness and the pain. She was able to find humor in the saddest moments.” (To learn more about our Resident Acting Company, Guest Actors, or our Intern Company, please visit milwaukeerep.com). The production/design team for LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL are Susannah Barnes (Set Designer), Scott Rott (Costume Designer), Aimee Hanyzewski (Lighting Designer) and Kathi Karol Koenig (Stage Manager). Tickets to LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL range in price from $25.00 to $38.00. For more information or to charge tickets, call 414-224-9490. Tickets can be purchased online 24/7 at milwaukeerep.com. For group sales of 20 or more, call The Rep Ticket Office at 414-224-9490. Special Events for LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL
For more information about The Rep’s Access Services, please contact The Rep’s Ticket Office at 414-224-9490. For production shots, please go to this link: SOULFUL HIT SHOW COMES TO STACKNER CABARET Written by Lanie Robertson Stackner Cabaret Season Sponsor FACT SHEET THEATER: Stackner Cabaret DATES: March 16 – May 13, 2007 DESCRIPTION: Four months before her death, Billie Holiday – also known as “Lady Day” – gives a swan-song performance for a few regulars at Emerson’s Bar & Grill in Philadelphia. This nationwide hit soulfully delivers renditions of such classic standards as God Bless the Child, Don’t Explain and When a Woman Loves a Man. Contains adult language. PERFORMANCES: Wednesday 3/21/07 - 7:30 p.m. Tuesday 3/27/07 - 7:30 p.m. Wednesday 4/4/07 - 7:30 p.m. Wednesday 4/11/07 - 7:30 p.m. Wednesday 4/18/07 - 7:30 p.m. Tuesday 4/24/07 - 6:30 p.m. Early Bird Tuesday 5/1/07 - 7:30 p.m. Wednesday 5/9/07 - 7:30 p.m. TICKET OFFICE LOCATION: TICKET PRICES: TICKETS/INFORMATION: 414-224-9490 or buy tickets online at milwaukeerep.com TICKET OFFICE HOURS: ### Open to the public before and after all evening performances, Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s newly-remodeled Stackner Cabaret, located on the second floor of the Milwaukee Center, is our own full-service bar and restaurant. Featuring delicious dinners, as well as late night cocktails, coffee, and desserts, the Cabaret is the ideal meeting place for patrons attending Rep performances. For dinner reservations, call 414-224-9490. The Stackner Cabaret is now smoke-free. Milwaukee Repertory Theater is a nationally recognized theater company that presents a critically-acclaimed selection of compelling dramas, powerful classics, award-winning contemporary works and lively Cabaret shows on three stages from September through May. The Rep also produces an annual production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. The Rep’s home, the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex, contains the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater, the Stiemke Theater and the Stackner Cabaret. The Rep is also “home” to a Resident Acting Company of 11 actors who perform with The Rep throughout the season. The Rep is proud to be a cornerstone member of the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF), which provides major annual financial support. The Rep is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a management association of some of the nation’s largest non-profit professional theaters that collectively bargains with the unions that represent the actors, directors and designers that work at The Rep; a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the nonprofit professional theater; and a member of Theatre Wisconsin, the statewide association of non-profit professional theaters. This theater operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. The set, costume and lighting designers are members of United Scenic Artists, a national labor union. This theater is an equal opportunity employer. Except in plays where race itself is an issue, casting is decided based on ability, not race. Milwaukee Repertory Theater |
Four months before her death, Billie Holiday – also known as “Lady Day” – gives
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