McDonald brings power to sweet, sad last days of ‘Lady Day’

McDonald won a Tony award for “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” for the 2014 Broadway production, her sixth Tony and a record-setter at that.

Even if you don’t know that she would be dead four months later of cirrhosis of the liver, you know her best days are behind her as she stands center stage in a long white gown, no trademark gardenia in her hair, and recalls moments of her life between signature songs.

At times, she stumbles toward her piano player Jimmy Powers (Shelton Becton), looking for something more than booze, and we assume she gets a hit of that something when she takes a short break.

Between sets, she was allowed to eat in the kitchen, but Shaw had to pay the place to allow her to be fed.

How many show-biz biographical plays have employed the flashback gimmick to tell their stars’ stories?

[...] it works only as well as the performance of its star.

David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, play with music, 9 p.m. Saturday, March 12, HBO