You don’t hear the term “love letter” very often nowadays, but that’s how Eugene singer Maya Thomas describes her one-woman play, “Billie: A Tribute to Billie Holiday,” which runs Oct. 13-15 at the Hope Theatre on campus.@@http://pages.uoregon.edu/theatre/archives/901@@
Jazz and pop icon Holiday, who died in 1959, is famous for her vulnerable vocal pauses and slurs in her songs.@@http://www.billieholiday.com/about/timeline.htm@@
“The social and emotional impact she’s had on everybody who’s heard her music is undeniable,” Thomas said. “Her songs, no matter what they make you feel, they make you feel something.”
Last summer Thomas performed the tribute at the Lord Leebrick Theatre downtown. University theater arts Professor John Schmor caught a show and invited Thomas to perform at the University this fall as a guest artist.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=John+Schmor@@
“I loved what she was doing with it and thought it needed a bigger audience, and I wanted my students to see it,” Schmor said. “She does that Billie Holiday sound, but in her own way. It’s amazing what she does with her voice.”
The tribute features 18 full-length songs by Holiday, which asks a lot from Thomas as a vocalist. The show also includes spoken excerpts from Holiday’s interviews and biographies. Thomas asks Holiday questions — what keeps her going, when she first started singing, did she ever have her heart broken — that are answered through the monologues. The tribute also covers Holiday’s relationship with her family and friends and her connection with music.
“I really wanted to give her one last concert,” Thomas said. “And as an artist it allows me to do a lot: sing, act and write.”
In other plays and tributes, memory of Holiday’s music is often overshadowed by an emphasis on her drug addiction, jail time and abusive relationships. This is not the case in Thomas’ portrayal.
“People have their demons, and it’s tragic,” Thomas said. “She gets to come back free of any political persecution or racial prejudice and rejoice in a free way.”
Thomas’ goal with the tribute is to tell Holiday’s story with grace. It’s not an impersonation but an ode to a great cultural icon. She said she wants to focus on the humanity in Holiday’s life and music and wants to give her a chance to have her say.
“What I really love about this show is its simplicity,” said University graduate student Fran Geiger, who is designing the lighting for the play.@@http://pages.uoregon.edu/tadept/?page_id=133@@ “It’s a show about the artist and her music. It stands out on its own.”
The tribute began when Thomas was studying at Juilliard, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. As third years, students were given a freestyle art project to work on, and Thomas chose Holiday. She researched Holiday and found only two plays written about her.
“Neither of them rang true to me,” Thomas said. “I decided to write one myself and serve her better.”
Even though years have passed, during which she acted in the Shakespeare Festival and moved back to Eugene to have children, Thomas kept coming back to Holiday, rearranging and tinkering with the tribute. She has performed the one-woman show about 15 times.
“Once I started, she just became part of my life,” Thomas said. “I can’t help it. It’s a calling.”
Holiday was so loved for her music during her life that after spending time in jail she sang a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall when she didn’t have a current hit single on the pop charts — unusual at the time. Thomas hopes others will recognize Holiday’s genius and talent.
“I think anyone into music, especially pop and jazz, will really enjoy and appreciate this show,” Geiger said. “It is a sneak peek into the life of one of the most influential jazz and pop vocalists of all time.”
Thomas said the tribute is appropriate for families, for inquisitive students and for people who love listening to the music of the 1940s and ’50s.
“It’s a human story, and it’s music,” Thomas said. “And we all need music in our lives.”
“Billie: A Tribute to Billie Holiday” runs October 13-15 at 8 p.m. in the Hope Theatre on campus. Admission is free, though seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis.