Ruby Washington/The New York Times Dee Dee Bridgewater performed with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2012.“Lady Day,†Stephen Stahl’s musical about the jazz singer Billie Holiday, will have its New York premiere at the Little Shubert Theater in September. The production will star the vocalist and actress Dee Dee Bridgewater, who performed the role in Paris and London to acclaim in the 1980s.
Ms. Bridgewater won a Tony Award as Glinda in the original Broadway production of “The Wiz.†As a singer, she revisited the Holiday repertory recently in “Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee,†which won the Grammy Award for best jazz vocal in 2011. (Eleanora Fagan was Holiday’s original name.)
Mr. Stahl, who has revised “Lady Day,†will also direct the New York production, which tells Holiday’s story, focusing on preparations for her final concerts.
“It’s a lifelong dream to bring this show to New York,†he said in a statement.
The show, scheduled to open on Sept. 26, includes 25 of the songs for which Holiday is best known - and which had particular resonance in her personal life - including “Strange Fruit,†“God Bless the Child,†“My Man†and “Mean to Me.â€
