TIERGARTEN

 Kim David Smith as Master of Ceremonies 

"Come to the Cabaret!"  Well Dear Reader, we did so and are mighty glad we did. If you were unable to get tickets (which is likely since any event produced by impresario Andrew Ousley and Death of Classical generally does sell out early) we hope to give you the flavor of the event. Imagine the supremely talented Australian cabaret artist Kim David Smith as Master of Ceremonies, taking the audience backward through time to visit various points in history that involved turning points or crises.

The program was conceived, written, and directed by Mr. Ousley himself; it included opera, musical theater, spirituals, instrumental works, visual arts, costuming, and even shadow puppetry. Working backward we began with Weimar Berlin, a time period that has interested us since the very first time we heard  Mr. Smith perform in the upstairs room of a gay bar in the theater district. This Australian "boy wonder" was new to NYC and we were new to cabaret. We became a regular, swooning over his interpretations of cabaret numbers in German and French.

Our favorite selection from this act was "Pirate Jenny" From Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht's Three-Penny Opera. Mr. Smith put the right bitter edge on this ballad of retribution, accompanied by some clever shadow puppetry by Foreshadow Puppetry.

The next act featured the disturbing song "Strange Fruit" by Abel Meeropol given an admirable interpretation by Amara Granderson, and John Dickinson's "The Liberty Song" sung by Miguel Angel Vasquez. If the chronology was a bit off, it didn't seem to matter because it made artistic sense.

Representing the Salem Witch Trials, we were thrilled to hear Ariadne Greif singing Azucena's rivetingly bitter "Stride la Vampa" from Verdi's Il Trovatore. Even more thrilling than the performance was the enthusiastic response of the crowd which was decidedly not opera folk. We hope some audience members were so taken with the performance that they will seek out more opera experiences.

If that aria didn't do it, Ms. Greif's performance of "Piangeró la sorta mia" from Händel's opera Giulio Cesare  surely did. This was from the section The Fall of the Roman Empire and was so moving that we are still dealing with an ear worm. Mr. Vasquez followed somewhat ironically with Renato Rascel's "Arrivederce Roma".

In the next section Ms. Granderson gave a highly emotional performance of the spiritual "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord" the strophic nature of which has resulted likewise in yet another ear worm. In a burst of irreverence, there was a female Jesus (Pearls Daily) with a beard and red sequined pasties and if you are imagining audience members clutching their pearls you would be mistaken. We will try to include some racy photos on IG and FB, hoping that they will not be censored, LOL.

Indeed it was a wild evening, filled with contradictions, with something for everyone. We have grown accustomed to singers using amplification for everything except opera but we still prefer the natural voice. This is just our preference. No one else seems to mind.

Toward the end of the evening there was a sexy pas de deux performed by Liana Zhen-ai and Dylan Contreras representing Eve and Adam.

The evening of traumas was brought to a healing close by Mr. Smith singing George Gershwin's "Love is Here to Stay" which hit just the right note, so to speak, and the audience left smiling.

Let us give credit to the instrumentalists who did such fine work backing up the singers: pianists Mila Henry and Tracy Stark, accordionist Will Holshouser, and percussionist David Silliman. Everyday Fay created the costumes.

Any cabaret lovers out there would do well to watch carefully for Mr. Ousley's next extravaganza and book promptly!

© meche kroop