I just saw the musical play “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” at the Old Arizona Theatre and I left wanting more.  More songs, more stories, more Thomasina Petrus as Billie Holiday.

The show runs approximately one hour and 45 minutes including a 15minute intermission.  The set is minimal (a small stage with a piano, and a microphone and stool for “Lady Day”) and the theatre seating is tables with white tablecloths and candles, with some bleachers behind them. With the lights set just right and mostly spotlighted on Thomasina you can really feel sometimes as if you are in “Emerson’s Bar & Grill”. I actually turned around once to look for “Emerson” thinking to see him sitting at the bar.

This is just a two-person play with Thomasina as Billie Holiday and Thom West, a pianist, as “Jimmy” her accompanist and sort of caretaker.  Now, before we go much further, let me say right here that I really don’t know that much about Billie Holiday the person. I have two of her CDs and I have always liked her voice and singing style. But the only things I knew about her life were anecdotes I had heard on the radio or from jazz musicians.  I never saw “Lady Sings the Blues” or read any biographies about her. After seeing this show, I am going out tomorrow and getting a book about Billie.

I had heard Thomasina Petrus sing before, both at the Artist’s Quarter and at Jazzmine’s, so I knew that musically she was good. Even though she can be very reminiscent of Billie Holiday she also has a voice and style that is all her own. What I didn’t know is that she can act too.  More than half of the show is songs or parts of songs (15 in all) with Thomasina doing a sort of monologue in between songs. Thomasina really does talk to the people in the “bar” you feel that Lady Day herself is telling you about her life. And what a life! I never knew the horrors that Billie Holiday went through, as a child and as an adult. Sometimes, it was all I could do to keep my eyes dry, I would recommend bringing Kleenex if you are at all prone to tearing up over a sad story.  My heart went out to the abused child and teenager, the drug ridden adult. It was almost a relief when intermission came.

The short, but intense, second set was so realistic that I found myself cringing when “Billie” sang “Taint Nobody’s Biz-ness”. I half expected her to fall off the stage.  I wasn’t even sure if I should clap when she was done, if this had been the real Billie in a real bar she might have been booed off the stage. Not that Thomasina sang badly, on the contrary, but the acting was very real without being over the top.  Thom West did a good job as Jimmy also, although his speaking part was small he acted it well and with aplomb, and he played great piano throughout.

I must say something about the writing. To give a capsule picture of someone’s life in only 1-½ hours and to do it interspersed among songs is quite an undertaking. When the story that is told is the life of Billie Holiday it becomes a Herculean task. But Lanie Robertson (writer) and Lou Bellamy (director) have done an excellent job.  The writing is natural and flows well. You get a real feel for the tortured soul that was Billie Holiday plus some history behind the songs that she wrote. Thomasina’s acting does real justice to the writing and directing and seeing this play has really piqued my interest in Billie Holiday, I want to know more about her.

Okay – I do have some complaints. One, the fake smoke coming off the stage before the show began could be toned down a bit. It is irritating to the eyes and throat. Two, my very favorite Billie Holiday song “Don’t Explain” was cut short. Guess I’ll have to listen to the CD.

“Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” is playing at the Old Arizona Theatre at 28^th & Nicollet through November 21^st. For more information call 612-871-0050.