Brilliant singing ... but Billie’s a bore

GLOOMY verisimilitude is on the menu at Lady Day, a cabaret-evening depiction of poor Billie Holiday near her end. Jazz singer Holiday died in a sorry state in 1959, bloated and ruined by drink and drugs.

This production shows her staggering around a Philadelphia nightclub, singing a few songs and slurring her way through some autobiographical material. Audra McDonald (making her West End debut) sounds amazingly like Holiday when she sings. It is hard to praise highly enough her brilliant act of re-creation.

But a little stage drunkenness goes a long way, and 95 minutes of it (the length of this U.S. show, which did well in New York) is more than sufficient. The exposition of Billie’s life becomes a bit of a bore, which really should not be the case.

It might have been interesting to meet some of the influences (good and bad) on her in the flesh, rather than in this slurred monologue. Yet the only other person to speak is the jazz band’s pianist.

The gifted Audra McDonald deserves better. So, for that matter, does Billie Holiday.