One of the hits of the 2014 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Everybody's Talkin' 'bout me starring Tim Freedman as Harry Nilsson will play at Hayes Theatre Co from Monday 13 April to Sunday 19 April.
In Everybody's Talkin' 'bout me, Tim Freedman inhabits the skin of legendary hard-living American recording artist Harry Nilsson. With Nilsson's beard, cap and accent, Freedman becomes the eccentric good-time rapscallion, telling the story of the rise and fall of one of the greatest singers and cleverest songwriters of all time.
Tim Freedman's imagining of a Harry Nilsson concert last year was one of the hits of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival where Barry Humphries was moved to attend twice. It was subsequently performed in one-night stands around the country. The new theatrical incarnation of the show to premiere at Hayes Theatre Co. in April will see Harry relocated from the concert hall to his den at midnight. With a glass of cognac in hand, Harry is in the mood for reminiscence, regret and reverie.
Classics such as the Grammy award-winning Everybody's Talkin' and Without You, as well as the hits he wrote for other artists like One and Cuddly Toy are all played at the piano to help jog Harry's memory of the good times and the bad.
Nilsson's output in the 60's and 70's is revered amongst songwriters. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were huge fans, calling Nilsson their "favourite American group". Freedman has put his own Whitlams catalogue aside to pay tribute to Nilsson, a brilliant studio artist who never sang live professionally, ever. Nilsson died in 1992 at the age of 52, so it is true to say that woven through Freedman's show is the concert Harry Nilsson never performed.
Tim Freedman is best known as the lead singer of Australian band The Whitlams. They released five gold and platinum albums in a row from 1995 to 2008. The Whitlams won three ARIA Awards in 1998 including Best Group and Song of the Year. In 2011 the Eternal Nightcap album was placed 27th on the ABC's My Favourite Album poll, and more recently was voted no. 17 in JJJ's Hottest Australian Albums of All Time.
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