PRESS RELEASE – FRIDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2017 RECORD SIX-TIME TONY AWARD-WINNER AUDRA McDONALD MAKES HER WEST END DEBUT IN LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL WYNDHAM’S THEATRE, LONDON From 17 June to 9 September 2017 PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY AVAILABLE HERE Username: Lady Day | Password: Holiday TICKETS ON SALE HERE FROM MIDDAY ON FRIDAY 3 FEBRUARY After the joyous news of Audra McDonald’s unexpected pregnancy last year, producers of the postponed London run of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill are delighted to announce that this summer, McDonald, the Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning singer and actress, will be making her long awaited West End debut portraying jazz legend Billie Holiday in a performance that won her a record-setting sixth Tony Award. This critically acclaimed production, which broke box office records at the Circle in the Square in New York, will run for a limited engagement at Wyndham’s Theatre from Saturday 17 June to Saturday 9 September, with opening night for press on Tuesday 27 June 2017. “Audra McDonald is a vocal genius! One of the greatest performances I ever hope to see.” New York Magazine Written by Lanie Robertson and directed by Lonny Price, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill recounts Holiday's life story through the songs that made her famous, including “God Bless the Child,” “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” “Strange Fruit” and “Taint Nobody’s Biz- ness.” “Mesmerizing! Pouring her heart into her voice, Audra McDonald breathes life into Billie Holiday’s greatest songs.” The New York Times Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill won two Tony Awards in 2014 including ‘Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play’ for Audra McDonald, making her Broadway’s most decorated performer, winner of six Tony Awards and the first and only person to receive awards in all four acting categories. 1959, in a small, intimate bar in Philadelphia, Holiday puts on a show that unbeknownst to the audience, will leave them witnesses to one of the last performances of her lifetime. Through her poignant voice and moving songs, one of the greatest jazz singers of all-time shares her loves and her losses. Billie ‘Lady Day’ Holiday had what is widely considered one of the greatest jazz voices of all- time. Born Eleanora Fagan in April 1915, she rose to popularity in the 1930’s and 1940’s with her pioneering vocal style strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists. After a turbulent personal life and struggle with addiction, she died at the untimely age of 44. In 2000, Holiday was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “One of the most exquisite & haunting performances of the year!” Entertainment Weekly Prior to making her West End debut in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill this summer, Audra McDonald will travel to London to perform four concerts at the Leicester Square Theatre hosted by Seth Rudetsky and featuring special guest Will Swenson from 12 to 15 April. Tickets are available here. For further information please contact THE CORNER SHOP PR on 0207 831 7657 Ben Chamberlain: [email protected] | Lewis Jenkins: [email protected] LISTINGS: Wyndham’s Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London Performances First performance: 17 June 2017 Final performance: 9 September 2017 Press Performance: 27 June 2017 For full performance schedule see website: LadyDayWestEnd.com Tuesday to Saturday at 7.45pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 2.45pm Box Office Website: LadyDayWestEnd.com Telephone: 0844 482 5120 Prices from £19.50 Premium and exclusive club seating available Social Media Twitter: @LadyDayWestEnd Instagram: @LadyDayWestEnd Facebook: Facebook.com/LadyDayWestEnd Audra McDonald www.AudraMcDonald.com www.twitter.com/AudraEqualityMc www.facebook.com/audramcdonald www.instagram.com/audramcdonald NOTES TO EDITORS: AUDRA McDONALD is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and an actress. Recipient of a record-breaking six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Emmy Award, she was bestowed a 2015 National Medal of Arts by President Obama and also named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people that year. Aside from her Tony-winning performances in Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, she has appeared on Broadway in The Secret Garden, Marie Christine (Tony nomination), Henry IV, and 110 in the Shade (Tony nomination). She returned in the 2015-16 season in Shuffle Along, Or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. The Juilliard-trained soprano’s opera credits include La voix humaine and Send at Houston Grand Opera, and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Los Angeles Opera. On television, she was seen by millions as the Mother Abbess in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live! and played Dr. Naomi Bennett on ABC’s Private Practice. She won an Emmy Award for her role as host of PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center, having previously received nominations for Wit and A Raisin in the Sun. Other TV credits include The Good Wife, Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years, The Bedford Diaries, Kidnapped, and the 1999 remake of Annie. On film, she has appeared in Seven Servants, The Object of My Affection, Cradle Will Rock, It Runs in the Family, The Best Thief in the World, She Got Problems, Rampart, and Ricki and the Flash. She plays the Garderobe in Disney’s upcoming live-action Beauty and the Beast. An exclusive recording artist for Nonesuch Records, she has released five solo albums for the label. McDonald also maintains a major career as a concert artist, regularly appearing on the great stages of the world and with leading international orchestras. Of all her many roles, her favorites are the ones performed offstage: passionate advocate for equal rights and homeless youth, wife to actor Will Swenson, and mother to her children. LANIE ROBERTSON began his career in Philadelphia with The Insanity of Mary Girard, a play which recently toured Ireland. His plays have been performed at many regional theatres throughout the United States and the world. New York productions include Back County Crimes at Playwrights’ Horizons, Nasty Little Secrets at Primary Stages, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill at both the Vineyard and the West Side Arts theatres, and Bringing Mother Down and Cannibal’s Waltz at the Abingdon Theatre. In 1987, he won the Outer Critics Circle Award for his Off-Broadway hit, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, which starred Lonette McKee as Billie Holiday, a role later assumed by Eartha Kitt, S. Epatha Merkerson, Loretta Divine, Jackee Harry and now the legendary Audra McDonald. He was awarded the prestigious Kleban Award as best librettist for Stringbean. His play A Penny for the Guy has been produced by the Virginia Stage Co., the Geva Theatre, Buffalo’s Studio Theatre, and the Manitoba Theatre Center. His play Alfred Stieglitz Loves O’Keeffe toured with Stacey Keach and Margot Kidder in the title roles. It was later produced in Paris and is scheduled for a production in Warsaw. For television, Mr. Robertson wrote the Diana Ross special Red Hot ‘n’ Blue for ABC, and Journey Into Genius which aired on PBS’ “American Playhouse” and starred Matthew Modine. His published plays include Back County Crimes, Nasty Little Secrets, HE/SHE: Pizza Pie, The Insanity of Mary Girard and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. His one-woman play Woman Before a Glass ran off-Broadway in New York City. LONNY PRICE. In the West End, Lonny Price directed English National Opera productions of Sunset Boulevard starring Glenn Close, which is currently playing a limited engagement at the Palace Theatre on Broadway, as well as Emma Thomson and Bryn Terfel in Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, which transferred to the ENO from Lincoln Center in New York. Broadway productions include: Audra McDonald in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (also for HBO), as well as 110 in the Shade; Danny Glover in Athol Fugard’s 'Master Harold'... and the Boys; Joan Rivers in Sally Marr and Her Escorts (which he co- wrote with Ms. Rivers and Erin Sanders); Jenn Colella in Urban Cowboy; and himself in A Class Act, for which he also co- wrote the book (with Linda Kline) and was nominated for a Tony Award. He recently directed the stage and film version of the New York Philharmonic’s all-star production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company starring Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, Christina Hendricks, Martha Plimpton, and Patti LuPone, which played in over seven hundred movie theaters across the country. His also directed the stage and filmed versions of his tribute to Stephen Sondheim, Sondheim: The Birthday Concert! in March of 2010, for which he received an Emmy Award. His other Philharmonic collaborations include the “Live From Lincoln Center” broadcasts of Camelot starring Gabriel Byrne; Candide, starring Kristin Chenoweth; and Sweeney Todd starring Ms. LuPone and George Hearn, for which he won an Emmy. His production of Sondheim’s Passion starring Ms. LuPone, Audra McDonald, and Michael Cerveris also won the Emmy. Lonny's Off-Broadway directorial work includes Visiting Mr. Green, starring Eli Wallach; Jules Feiffer’s Grown Ups; and Mary Pat Gleason’s Stopping Traffic. He made his opera directing debut at the Houston Grand Opera directing Audra McDonald in Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and Michael John LaChiusa’s Send. For his first feature film, ‘Master Harold’ ... and the Boys, (starring Freddie Highmore and Ving Rhames), he received a Best Director Award from the New York International Independent FIlm and Video Festival.