Billie Holiday’s impact on modern music is undeniable. Known for her innovative and improvisational style, the American jazz pioneer’s voice has captivated audiences across the world since the 1930s.
Also known as Lady Day, the entertainer was a Black, openly bisexual woman who was unabashedly herself both on and off the stage, characteristics the era seldom celebrated. Despite the odds, she enjoyed mainstream success throughout the 40s.
With that spotlight came scrutiny, however, and Holiday – who struggled with substance abuse – was targeted by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics for lending her voice not just to song but to injustice in the South.
Holiday’s hits included “Strange Fruit,” a song protesting the lynching of Black Americans. She began singing it in 1939 and never publicly stopped, even after the federal government sent her to prison on drug charges and until her untimely death at 44 in 1959.
In the years since the song has been preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry. Holiday has also been celebrated as the cultural phenomenon she was, inspiring films like “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” and well before, Lanie Robertson’s 1986 play “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill.”
“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,” it’s officially described. “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 has taken on new life since its premiere, from productions starring Broadway legend Audra McDonald to award-winning revivals from the Ebony Repertory Theatre, the only African American professional theatre company in Los Angeles. It’s a production currently being presented at St. Petersburg’s freeFall Theatre through April 24.
“This play has been one of our most requested productions in recent memory” freeFall Artistic Director Eric Davis says. “We are also incredibly excited to present the acclaimed production from our new friends at Ebony Repertory Theatre … Our hope is to continue to cultivate this collaboration for future productions.”
Watermark spoke with Lady Day herself, star Karole Foreman, about Billie Holiday’s authenticity, legacy and more.
WATERMARK: The last few years have been challenging for the entertainment industry. Why is live theater still so important, especially when telling a story like Billie Holiday’s?
KAROLE FOREMAN: The shutdown was devastating for all of us – if not economically, then socially, personally, professionally and certainly psychologically. Gathering together as groups is just one of the most primal things that we as human beings need. It’s how we connect with our tribes.
I think art can open up those spaces for us and it’s a necessary part of how we’re evolving. It’s an indication of where we are as a culture and what we value – and as for Billie Holiday, this play that Lanie Robertson has written, it’s loaded. It’s not only a look at Lady Day as an artistic figure, but what I appreciate about it is that Lady Day isn’t remembered as a victim or a drug addict. Even though she was victimized, even though she had issues with substance abuse, we remember her because of her artistry.
Why do you think that is?
Her voice is singular, there’s not been a voice like it with the range and the depth she had. But it’s also a look at our history as Americans, as Black people in America, and how she was treated. I imagine how different her life would have been if she wasn’t singled out by the Drug Enforcement Administration. If she had gotten treatment for her substance abuse. If they hadn’t taken away her cabaret card, which gave her the ability to make a living in New York City after she was in prison. Would she still be alive now? What kind of music would she had been making with other artists?
So to me, in spite of the circumstances of her life … it’s incredibly triumphant, her story. Especially with films out now like “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” It’s a chance to look back, like we’ve all done these past two, almost three years now. We have really been coming to terms with racism in America and how it has stymied all of our lives.
Do you think that’s why her story has seen such a resurgence?
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Because there’s more information out there. But even in the play Lady Day talks about agents coming to her midnight shows and arresting her because they felt like maybe she was on something. For singing “Strange Fruit,” a protest song.
She was singing about people who were hanging, lynching, murdering Black bodies, right here in America through the 50s. You know, an anti-lynching bill just passed [March 8 in the U.S. Congress] – it just passed. So we’re well aware of the stain of bigotry and racism, and yet in spite of that, we still have the emergence of great artists like Billie Holiday. To me, it’s a way of celebrating her brilliance, celebrating her humanity. It’s a triumphant story, because in spite of that we still have this gift of her artistry and her music, which is timeless because she is brilliant.
Why do you think LGBTQ audiences can connect with the play?
Because she tells the truth. I think those of us who come up marginalized, we don’t have time for the BS or the social construct of avoidance. Of “we don’t like that, so we’re not going to talk about it” or “That makes us uncomfortable, so we don’t even want to acknowledge that exists.” She was openly bisexual, it wasn’t something that she hid. She was with a socialite at the time by the name of Louise Crane, and also Tallulah Bankhead … and in the FBI reports, they labeled her “a sexual deviant,” which of course was alluding to her bisexuality.
I think that was another reason why she was targeted. It’s not directly addressed in the play, but I don’t think she needed to necessarily identify herself. When you saw her on stage, that’s who she was, and that’s what I’ve also come to love about her — the courage she had to be herself in that time, to live authentically and be who she was. I find that so courageous and inspiring about her story and her life.
When did you first become familiar with Holiday?
As a young child, my dad was a big jazz fan. I remember, when I was younger, I think it’s “Lady in Satin,” which was one of her last recordings. He put it on and I had to leave the room because I had never experienced such sadness. I didn’t understand it as a young person. Lady Day, I didn’t really start investigating her music until my 20s. I was listening to Nancy Wilson, who was my first influence, to Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald and the like and only peripherally knew about her story going around, that she was a heroin and drug addict that died tragically at 44. That was all I knew about Lady Day, and then of course Audra McDonald did this show. I began to read about her and then my director approached me almost four years now about the role.
What draws you to playing her?
To me, Lady Day is an onion. Every time I find out something about her, there’s something new, there’s something deeper. What is also striking to me was her sense of humor. She tells these tragic stories and then she finds something just so ludicrous about it. She had a remarkable ability to tell the painful truth about her situation, then find the absurdity in it and still have the ability to laugh at it and about it. That to me was remarkable.
What message do you have for audiences?
Come for the music, come for the joy. Come back to theater! Netflix and streaming will be there when you get home, but this is a chance to come and commune safely with other people in a space and to share a story about this historical legend. It’s really a celebration. I think people will be inspired, uplifted and encouraged by this story. We’re excited to come to St. Petersburg, to share the story and to get to know and celebrate with the community. Come out and see us!
“Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” runs most Wednesdays-Sundays through April 24 at freeFall Theatre, located at 6099 Central Ave. in St. Petersburg. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit freeFallTheatre.com.
