Lady Day Returns to City Repertory Theatre for 15th Anniversary Season

PALM COAST, Fla. – After four years, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill returns to the stage at City Repertory Theatre, bringing Billie Holiday’s voice, story, and spirit back to Palm Coast as part of CRT’s 15th Anniversary Season. Lanie Robertson’s Tony Award–winning play will be presented in a six-performance run, January 9 through January 18, 2026.

The production was last seen at CRT in a sold-out run in 2021 and remains one of the most beloved performances in the theatre’s history. Once again, audience favorite Laniece Rose Fagundes stars as legendary jazz songstress Billie Holiday, alongside Benjamin Beck as her longtime piano man, Jimmy Powers.

Set in 1959 in a seedy Philadelphia bar, the play imagines one of Holiday’s final performances. What unfolds is part concert, part confession—a “peek behind the curtain,” as Fagundes and Beck have described it—where music and memory intertwine. Holiday tells stories of her childhood, her career, her relationships, and her struggles, woven through unforgettable songs including “Strange Fruit,” “God Bless the Child,” “When a Woman Loves a Man,” and “T’Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do.”

“The show is a performance—it’s a live concert, one of the last performances,” Fagundes said during the show’s earlier run. “It’s cool because she tells a bunch of different stories about her experiences, her childhood, growing up, and it’s got some of her greatest songs interwoven.”

A vocalist and piano teacher with more than two decades of training, Fagundes brings a deep personal connection to the role—one that has evolved over time. “The first time John brought it to me, it’s not a show that I found I wanted to do. At the time I was very young and it didn’t work,” she shared. “Now we’ve come full circle. I’ve embraced it and connected with her in reading her story.”

Beck, who also serves as musical director, says the relationship between singer and pianist is at the heart of the piece. “It’s a fun ‘pull back the curtain’ moment for me as a musician,” he said. “It’s an interesting piece to let other people see that relationship between pianist and singer… that transparency you wouldn’t know about if you were just going to a club.”

Directed by CRT Artistic Director John Sbordone, the production reflects the theatre’s founding mission. “If I have really talented people, I’m going to find ways of letting them stretch and do things they might not think they can do,” Sbordone said. “That’s part of what City Repertory Theatre is about.”

Funny, heartbreaking, and deeply human, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill remains a powerful exploration of Holiday’s artistry and resilience—and a fitting return for CRT as it celebrates 15 years of bold, intimate theatre.

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m., January 9–18, 2026. Tickets are available at crtpalmcoast.com or by calling 386-585-9415.

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill is the fourth production in CRT’s 15th Anniversary Season. Still to come this spring are The Colored Museum, Art, and a double bill of Line and All in the Timing.