What a swell party it was, to be sure. Our taxi driver asked the armed policeman whether he could drive through the front gate of Buckingham Palace? He was told no, so he made a virtuoso U-turn and deposited my wife and me at the head of the queue, where we showed the guards our photo-ID, plus a bank statement giving our names and full postal address. Then we were gently herded into the vast … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2017
Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday Lives on in London
In her photographs, the multiple Tony-winner Audra McDonald looks nothing like Billie Holiday. But when she appears at Wyndham’s Theatre in Lanie Robertson’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill wearing a slinky white dress, and, later, pins a gardenia to her hair, she is the spitting image of the drink-and-drugs victim who was one of the great jazz singers ever. What’s more, the … [Read more...]