“One of the greatest performances I ever hope to see”
– New York Magazine


“☆☆☆☆! A spellbinding, captivating, tour de force!”
– Daily News


“Stunning and heartbreaking. Audra McDonald gives the performance of her career.”
– The Huffington Post


“One of the most exquisite and haunting performances of the year!”
– Entertainment Weekly


“A priceless gem.”
– NY1


“One of the supreme honors of the Broadway season. It's haunting. Close your eyes and Billie Holiday is back.”
– Associated Press


“A transcending, moving and daring performance!”
– USA Today

Audra McDonald
Lady Day
at Emerson's Bar & Grill
Original Broadway Cast Recording

Experience on disc the performance that won Audra McDonald her unprecedented sixth Tony Award. "One of the greatest performances I ever hope to see" is how New York Magazine described McDonald's portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, Lanie Robertson's award-winning play with music dramatizing one of the final concerts in the beloved singer's extraordinary, tragic life. Recorded live at Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre, the two-disc set features McDonald's "spellbinding, tour-de-force" (NY Daily News) renditions of signature Holiday songs such as "God Bless the Child," "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," "Strange Fruit" and "Taint Nobody's Biz-ness." The Associated Press proclaimed Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill "one of the supreme honors of the Broadway season," while The New York Times delighted in "the pleasure of hearing Ms. McDonald breathe aching life into some of Holiday's greatest songs... with sensitive musicianship and rich seams of feeling that command rapt admiration." Now, "the best 90 minutes you'll ever witness" (NY1) have been preserved on disc by PS Classics, giving audiences the chance to savor "not just one but two of the most extraordinarily gifted dramatic vocalists America has produced" (Los Angeles Times).
 

1. Introduction
   
2. I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone
   
3. When a Woman Loves a Man
   
4. "I’m even glad to be back in Philly..."
   
5. "I want to introduce my accompanist..."
   
6. What a Little Moonlight Can Do
   
7. "We got this contract..."
   
8. Crazy He Calls Me
   
9. "They used to be hangin’ from the rafters..."
   
10. Gimme a Pigfoot (and a Bottle of Beer)
    
11. "That was in the early thirties..."
    
12. Baby Doll
    
13. "I better watch myself here..."
    
14. God Bless the Child
    
15. "That was for my mama..."
    

Disc Two:

1. "Nobody but me ever liked Sonny..."
   
2. Foolin’ Myself/Somebody’s on My Mind
   
3. Easy Living
   
4. "I was singin’ with Artie’s band..."
   
5. Strange Fruit
   
6. "It’s bad again, Jimmy..."
   
7. Blues Break
   
8. "Now I’ll take a little break right here..."
   
9. 'Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do
   
10. "I want you all to meet Pepi..."
    
11. "I was doin’ the bad drugs heavy..."
    
12. Don’t Explain / What a Little Moonlight Can Do (Reprise)
    
13. Deep Song