Blues Legacy

Suzzanne Douglas takes on the difficult task of portraying music legend Billie Holiday.

By: Jim Boyle
   One of the toughest roles an actor can take on is portraying a real-life legend. There is unbelievable pressure to convince audiences that the portrayal is accurate and not a mocking impression. Robert Downey Jr. received an Acedmy Award nomination for his portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in 1992, while Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Audrey Hepburn in 2000 was almost blasphemous.

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"I am not Billie Holiday," says Suzzanne Douglas, regarding her role in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill at George Street Playhouse. "I don’t make any pretenses to be her. I just want to capture her essence and tell a story."

Staff photo by Frank Wojciechowski

   Suzzanne Douglas wants to put those unrealistic expectations to rest as quickly as possible when she takes the stage at George Street Playhouse as jazz singer Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, which runs at the New Brunswick theater Oct. 9-Nov. 11.
   "I am not Billie Holiday," says Ms. Douglas. "I don’t make any pretenses to be her. I just want to capture her essence and tell a story. I’m not going to have that gravelly sound, because I don’t have Billie’s sound. I’m going to sing the way I sing, but with the passion and commitment with which she sang."
   The opening of the production coincides with National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. George Street Playhouse has partnered with the New Jersey Coalition For Battered Women and the Silent Witness Exhibit of New Jersey to recognize the month’s importance. The theater lobby will contain an exhibit provided by the Silent Witness Coalition of New Jersey to promote public awareness of the lives of the victims of domestic violence. The exhibit consists of life-sized silhouettes, each representing a murdered victim of domestic violence in the state.
   Ms. Holiday was also a victim of abuse. At age 10 she was raped by a neighbor and, when she was 14 years old, jailed for prostitution. In the ’40s, she had an abusive marriage with James Monroe, who introduced her to heroin and opium.
   The play takes place four months before Ms. Holiday’s death in 1959. The setting is a small bar in South Philadelphia, and the world-weary Holiday is singing for a very small crowd. Ms. Douglas had a chance to speak with the playwright, Lanie Robertson, during her preparation for the role.
   "He told me a friend of his had gone to see her at a place in Philadelphia right before she died," she says. "It was out of that experience he wrote the play. When this friend went to see her, there was absolutely no one there. There were seven people, who talked through the whole performance. They had no idea who they were seeing. I know that must have ripped her apart because she loved to perform and she loved to sing."
   As the play continues, Ms. Holiday confronts the ghosts and demons of her tumultuous life, absolving them, and herself, of any wrongdoing.
   "She made no apologies," says Ms. Douglas. "She realized she can’t go back. She made the best of what she had. We’re approaching the songs as if they are continuations of the monologue. It isn’t done in a Broadway presentational way. It is really a private moment of watching this woman reveal her soul to you."
   Ms. Douglas spent the summer researching the music icon, trying to get beyond the voice and discovering the real person.
   "I just wanted to get an understanding who she was psychologically and sociologically," she says. "I have an understanding why she did what she did and why she sang with such passion.
   "Once you get that research, you know what you do? You throw it out the window. You can’t act research."
   Her preparation involved reading five biographies, Billie Holiday’s autobiography and watching some films she appeared in, such as New Orleans. Inevitably, Ms. Douglas began to see some similarities between Lady Day and herself.

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"We’re approaching the songs as if they are continuations of the monologue. It isn’t done in a Broadway presentational way. It is really a private moment of watching this woman reveal her soul to you."

   "We have quite a few things in common," says. Ms. Douglas. "We both love to sing. That’s where she lived. She’s an Aries woman, just as I am. She was very passionate about life. And, she had an addictive behavior, just as I do.
   "She also had a great sense of seeing things that weren’t just. Injustices that were placed upon her because of the time. She grew up with racism and the way the industry treated her. There’s some similar things there too that I’m able to use. I’m actually able to utilize a lot of myself."
   Brought up in Chicago’s south side, Ms. Douglas’s mother gave her and her siblings a steady diet of music and culture. Ms. Douglas studied theater at Illinois State with a class that included John Malkovich, Judith Ivey and Gary Sinise.
   "It was a state school," she says, "but I lucked out because they had very good professors. We were all just neophytes in the theater at the time. We were eager to learn and had great instruction."
   Ms. Douglas now owns a career 25-years-old and counting. She appeared in films such as Tap, opposite Gregory Hines, and Jason’s Lyric, alongside Forest Whitaker and Jada Pinkett Smith. She also had a starring role on the sitcom The Parent ‘Hood with Robert Townsend. Despite the success on the big and small screen, Ms. Douglas still counts stage as her true love.
   "It keeps your work very honest because audiences know when they’re being lied to," she says. "You really have to be able to produce a complete, full thought-out line in the script. You really don’t get the emotional life of the character as profoundly as you do with stage."
   The last time Ms. Douglas graced George Street Playhouse’s stage, she played the role of Vivian Bearing in Wit. That character had a soul-searching journey during a losing battle with ovarian cancer. Between the characters of Bearing and Holiday, the emotional toll would probably be immeasurable.
   "I like a challenge," says Ms. Douglas. "I guess I like hard things because life is not easy. Our lives are much more complex than the fluff that you would see in a typical Broadway musical. I like projects that force you to think and allow people to reflect about themselves and others."
   One unexpected challenge that Ms. Douglas has endured is the addition of a four-legged co-star. The production of Lady Day calls for a canine companion.
   "That was an important part of her life," says Ms. Douglas. "She never had children, so her Chihuahua, Pepe, was her family. Her father deserted the family. He was a musician and was gone so often that when he came home, it was just like a gig."
   Another challenge for the play is not intimidating those unfamiliar with Billie Holiday’s work. The themes of the show have a universal appeal and can resonate for the uninitiated.
   "The play deals with family, loss, abandonment, love and passion," she says. "These are things that everyone deals with. It brings it right down to the human factor. It makes you think what you’re going through, others are going through.
   "Billie didn’t realize that. So many don’t realize that greatness lies within you. Do not define yourself based on the world. There are others going through the same thing. Billie was depressed. Everyone suffers from depression in some way, shape or form. Unless we acknowledge that, then we get lost and lose ourselves and, ultimately, our souls."
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill plays at George Street Playhouse, 9
Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, Oct. 9-Nov. 11. Performances: Tues.-Sat. 8
p.m., Sun. 2, 7 p.m. Tickets cost $18-$44. For information, call (732) 246-7717.
On the Web: www.georgestplayhouse.org