Award-winning jazz and contemporary artist Catherine Summers takes you on a tour of Paris and New York in this Perth Fringe World.
Catherine will present two distinct and explosive shows – “A Parisian Affair” and “Late Night Speakeasy”.
“A Parisian Affair” features all things Fringe, including a full jazz band and a bit of satire with, of course, Catherine at the helm. Then, right after, “Late Night Speakeasy” features a late-night hangout, an extravagant New York cocktail bar with nine musicians.
Each show will showcase Catherine’s stage presence and stellar voice, and aim to take the audience on a musical journey, without even having to leave their seat.
Here Catherine lists five ways to experience Paris and New York in one night (PS – you can also at her Fringe World shows).
One
‘Red Mill’. Sensuality, dance, entertainment, music. . . But the history of the cabaret is much more than that. Towards the end of the 19th century the song or ‘chanson’ was the main form of entertainment in the French cafe and songs were not just for entertainment but were used as a means of communication to react to what was going on in the countries around them and, to document history. Showgirl feathers, jazz swing at six with me, and people know me for my storytelling and my authentic interpretations of French classics.
Image © David Phillips
Of them
‘Late Night New York Speakeasy’. ‘Late Night Speakeasy’ is directly after ‘A Parisian Affair’. Step into a New York cocktail bar extravaganza featuring nine musicians. This authentic and loud nine-piece jazz band from the 20s who walks around late at night is exactly what COVID ordered – shhh. . . One of the most famous was called Krazy Kat, in Washington, DC, a hangout for the city’s bohemian crowd, circa the early 1920s. . It suits me well !
Three
“Not quite the real vaudeville feel”. The vaudeville consisted of comedians, singers, spinners, ventriloquists, dancers, musicians, acrobats, animal trainers and anyone who could hold the public’s interest for more than three minutes. These programs were intended for an exclusively male audience and were often obscene! You’ll have comedy, musicians, singers, showgirls, but it’s inclusive, feminine and LGBTQIA+ liberation, a musical story of the working classes mingling with the bourgeois classes – the birth of anything goes!
Photo © Kaifu Deng
Four
‘All Fringe in sophisticated bliss’. Enjoy all things Fringe in sleek sophistication for premiere show, cabaret, vaudeville, showgirl, satire, burlesque, and historical treats woven around a world-class six-piece jazz band with me at bar. Then, get your tickets to the second show, an authentic speakeasy bar of nine 20s musicians. Think “Fat Sam’s Grand Slam”!
Five
‘Edith Piaf’. Considered France’s national singer and one of the country’s best-known international stars. In 1935, she was discovered by Louis Leplée, owner of a cabaret, who gave her her first job in a nightclub. Edith’s songs are often autobiographical. The tragedies and moving songs of Edith’s life resonate strongly with my own life and that’s how I feel to bring her songs to a place where words and music turn into something else. That something you can’t get from TV, that something that can make your hair stand on end. I invite you to come and listen to his songs in the best possible way to pay tribute to them.
“A Parisian Affair” plays The Old Pickle Factory from February 3-13 and “Late Night Speakeasy” plays The Old Pickle Factory from February 3-12.
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