SHOWTUNE PRODUCTIONS

David M. Hawkins in association with
The Adelaide Cabaret Festival
presents

JULIE WILSON
in
I’m A Bad Bad Bad
Bad Woman, but
STILL Good Good Good Company

The legendary Julie Wilson, New York's undisputed queen of cabaret, will perform in Sydney for one night only on Sunday June 14. In her show titled I’m A Bad Bad Bad Bad Woman, but STILL Good Good Good Company, Wilson will perform the many songs for which she has become well known throughout her acclaimed 70-year career. Running the gamut from classic, dramatic theatre pieces and great torch songs to rousing swing tunes, fresh new standards-to-be and her trademark comic novelty songs, this is Julie Wilson’s own personal hit parade. She infuses an evening of classics by Porter, Sondheim, Rodgers and Hart, Billie Holiday, Peter Allen and others with her furious theatrical intensity, devilish humour and the soulful wisdom of a long life well-lived.

Ms Wilson made her Broadway debut in the 1946 revue Three to Make Ready, then starred on the West End in Kiss Me Kate, South Pacific and Bells Are Ringing. She returned to New York to star in Kismet, and subsequently performed in The Pajama Game, Jimmy, Park and Peter Allen’s Legs Diamond, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She has toured in Show Boat, Silk Stocking, Follies, Company and A Little Night Music. In 1983 with her family grown up, she returned to the stage and forged a reputation as a leading cabaret performer of torch songs and show tunes by Cole Porter, Kurt Weill, Cy Coleman, Harold Arlen, Stephen Sondheim and George and Ira Gershwin.

Julie Wilson was muse for many major composers including Noel Coward, Cole Porter and Peter Allen. The song “Quiet Please There’s a Lady On Stage” was actually written by Peter Allen about Ms Wilson. While watching a performance by her in New York, a group of people at the bar were talking so loud Allen turned around and shouted “Quiet please there is a lady on stage”, and the rest is history.

Wilson has only performed a brief set before in Australia at the Sydney Cabaret Convention many years ago, and she has been wanting to return to Sydney with her show for many years. Australian showbiz trivia buffs may know that Julie Wilson was originally meant to play Dolly in the original Australian production of Hello Dolly. But as she had just given birth to her son and her husband didn’t want to travel to Australia and live here throughout the tour, Julie cancelled the engagement at the last minute and Carol Cook replaced her.

Producer David Hawkins said, “I met Julie in New York in February and immediately fell in love with her wit, style, spirit and soul. She is a rare breed from the old school like Chita Rivera and Elaine Stritch, who understand the soul, spirit and respect of performing and live for it in every second of their lives. To hear her stories of working with Noel Coward, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Peter Allen had me glued to her energy force, and I could suddenly understand why all these gentleman held her in such high esteem. She is a fierce truth-teller; a woman on a mission to entertain and learn at any cost. I am so honoured to be presenting her in Sydney.”