The lights dimmed in the O’Reilly Theater and a single spotlight illuminated a woman in a black cocktail dress at a 1950s microphone stand.

The band in the background played the tune of “How High the Moon.”

The woman in black, Ella Fitzgerald, started to sing in a deep, husky voice and was met by applause and cheers from the audience, who, for a moment, took a trip back in time to the Jazz Age of great female singers.

This was the opening scene of the musical “Ella,” starring Tina Fabrique, which uses the songs of legendary jazz singer Fitzgerald to tell her life story. The musical is playing at the Pittsburgh Public Theater through Nov. 1.

“[‘Ella’] is very light and frothy…You will leave the theater singing her songs,” Margie Romero, the communications manager at Pittsburgh Public Theater, said.

Told through the eyes of Fitzgerald, the musical follows her as she reminisces about her life on the eve of her show in Nice, France.

Discovered at the age of 16 at an amateur singing contest at the Apollo Theater in New York City, Fitzgerald’s career would span 60 years, winning many awards and selling over 40 million albums.

The first act begins with Fitzgerald and her band in dress rehearsal the morning of her 1966 concert. Fitzgerald is told by her manager that she must cut a song from her line-up to add dialogue and conversation with the audience. Fitzgerald begins to reminisce about her past, starting with her abusive relationship with her stepfather, her abnormal marriage and the recent passing of her half-sister, Francis.

The memories that Fitzgerald shares with the audience are punctuated by the singing of classic jazz songs that made her career. These songs are used in the play to show Fitzgerald’s progression from big band to bebop style in music and how those songs relate to specific points in her life.

Featured in the show are the songs “The Nearness of You” and “A Tisket, A Tasket.” Also included are “My Buddy” and “Blue Skies,” which are sung in remembrance of Chick Webb, her musical mentor, and her sister, Francis, who was her closest relative.