ONE WAS A JAZZ and blues singer known for a voice that reflected the hard life she lived. The other was a singer, dancer and performer who found fame in Europe with racy performances while struggling for racial equality. Both were black American women who became cult figures .
The extraordinary lives of Billie Holiday and Josephine Baker will be a focus of the City Festival, thanks to cabaret performances by British singer Dawn Hope and Australian musician/composer Warren Wills, veterans of London's West End.
Billie's Blues pays tribute to jazz singer Holiday, while Orchid in the Flame marks the 100th anniversary of Baker's birth. Hope plays both singers, performing some of their best-loved songs and recounting their life stories.
Wills, who accompanies on piano, has been nominated for a Laurence Olivier theatre award and is no stranger to the festival, having participated before with Spanish flamenco guitarist Esteban Antonio.
The pair have been performing the two shows in Britain for years. Wills says they should appeal as much to longtime fans of the singers as those who know little about them. 'What's fun about both is that entertainment and theatrical aspects are high on the agenda - even when the story-telling is describing an awkward or racially charged incident,' he says.
The action in Billie's Blues takes place at a small bar in Philadelphia in 1959 in the early hours of the morning. Holiday is making one of her last appearances - washed up, but still charismatic.
