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Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FOLLOWING a sell-out, eight-week season at the New End Theatre,
Lanie Robertson's acclaimed Billie Holiday musical, Lady
Day at Emerson's Bar will open at the New Players Theatre
on May 10, 2005 - for a limited 12-week run.
March 1959 and it's 'round midnight in a small bar in South Philadelphia.
Billie Holiday is making one of her final appearances - washed-up
yet still charismatically engaging.
In the sleazy and intimate surroundings of her old friend Emerson's
bar, she begins her set and between songs gradually pours out
the highs and lows of her life - the heartaches and the triumphs.
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Lady Day at Emerson's Bar
features over a dozen of the songs that transformed the singer
known as 'Lady Day' into a jazz legend.
Dawn Hope takes on the role of Holiday, with Warren Wills as
her pianist and musical director, Jimmy Powers.
Hope's many West End credits include Simply
Heavenly, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Piaf, They're Playing Our
Song, Black Mikado, Time and Little Shop of Horrors.
She also made West End history by performing in two shows at
the same time - Chicago at night and Ain't Misbehaving
at matinees.
Hope's other work includes Follow My Leader, Josephine, Metropolis
Kabaret and Queen of Barbary. She has also appeared
extensively in both film and television.
Wills also worked on Simply Heavenly as Musical Supervisor,
while his other credits as Musical Director include Follow
My Leader, Soul Train and Zorro.
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar is booking until Saturday,
July 23, 2005.
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