Audra McDonald helps ‘Lady Day’ turn a profit

Audra McDonald has propelled her new Broadway show into profitability.

Producers of the play Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill said on Tuesday that they have recouped their $2.6 million (Dh9.5 million) initial investment.

In the show, McDonald portrays Billie Holiday in one of her last concerts, offering stories and performing about a dozen of Holiday’s best-known songs, including God Bless the Child, What a Little Moonlight Can Do and Strange Fruit.

In June, McDonald won her sixth Tony Award for the role, making her the awards’ most decorated actress and the only woman to win a Tony in all four acting categories.

Other recent Broadway shows that have recouped include Of Mice and Men, All the Way and The Glass Menagerie.