We approached winners of a 2011 Sydney Fringe Award for Excellence, Beauty and the Bastard, in October 2011 with a view to producing a tour for the act. The act have just completed series of performances at Carry On at Gluttony at 2012 Adelaide Fringe…
Two great voices of Australian Music, Maxine Kauter and James Edgar Francis, unite to sing classic Disney songs. Some have suggested this is just a blatant attempt to corner the Tween Demographic, but other, less cynical commentators, have deemed it an endearing celebration of the youth of the Western World, and the dreams that they have collectively dreamt and lost.
Dress up, sing-a-long and hear inspired interpretations of some of the most popular Disney songs, including “A Whole New World”, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” and “Beauty & the Beast”. A show that promises to be filled with humour, joy and the beauty of an unexpected key change, delivered by two artists who know how to break a few hearts with a melody.
Media:
- Beauty and the Bastard, featured on Cabaret Confessional in the lead up to their Adelaide Fringe tour
- Review for Beauty and the Bastard in On Dit
- Review for Beauty and the Bastard on Glam Adelaide
- Review for Beauty and the Bastard on ripitup.com
- Review for Beauty and the Bastard on On The Record
The performers:
James Edgar Francis is a performer who is at ease delivering sentimental ballads, self-deprecating monologues and heckling his audience when they don’t appreciate him. A professional malcontent and career underdog, he has paved a place for himself in the Sydney Music Scene. With the ingenuous abandon of Bob Dylan, the soulful sincerity of Sam Cooke and the misguided ambition of Wolfmother, his is a voice that demands to be heard and understood, and rewards those listeners who do.
Over the course of 2010 and 2011 James has been recording with Producer Melvin Tree, and will release an album in late 2011 that will showcase the often funny and touching songs that he has written. Some composed in the solitary confinement of a Kings Cross Apartment on the night of the Sydney Swans fateful win against the West Coast Eagles in the 2005 AFL Grand Final, and others written while cavorting across the American continent, hiking the Hipster Trail from San Francisco to Brooklyn in search of what Paul Simon once famously sang about: a Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Maxine Kauter is a musician not afraid to wear her influences on her sleeve. Growing up in Sydney’s southern suburbs during the grunge explosion of the 90’s the independent spirit of that music deeply affected her and has provided her music and career with its unwavering self-determination. She is known for her wallowy ballads and her tremulous voice, capable of delivering a confident thwack and a tentative whimper as much for her scathing wit and cynical optimism.
In 2011 she released her first full length album, “Alibech the Hermit”, a follow up to her self-titled EP of 2008. “Alibech the Hermit” is based on a story from Bocaccio’s Decameron and reveals Kauter’s love of songs that serve as tales. Her egocentrically named band, the Maxine Kauter Band (Stephen Beverley on drums, Shannon Haritos on double bass), has received favourable reviews from local Sydney press including FBI and the Brag, who named “Alibech…” album of the week. They are currently working on a follow up album.
Maxine and James are joined by Shannon Haritos on double bass and Nicola Ossher on percussion.
