Crazy Coqs was yesterday’s venue for a delicious cabaret performance, Vamps of Weimar, by London-based Hersh Dagmarr, a Queer singer/songwriter and visual artist.
Taking inspiration from the grand Weimar Berlin era (1918-1933) that preceded the rise of Nazism, Dagmarr has assembled a selist which ranges from Dietrich to Weill, Britney Spears to William Bolcom, Bizet to Mischa Spoliansky.
The conceit is that Dagmarr and his accompanist, Karen Newby, were actually present in the Weimar era, and have made the journey to us in the 21st century by means of willpower and a touch of vampirism, Rather apt in the run-up to Halloween.
Dressed initially in a soldier’s uniform with added fur accessories, Dagmarr opens with “Revolutionary Etude” leading into “Pirate Jenny” from Die Dreigroschenoper (Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill).
We are invited to visit with a vamp, as Dagmarr offers well-honed and powerful vocals with an ingratiating charm.
The trio of “I Am A Vamp” (Spoliansky, associated closely with Ute Lemper), “Teenage Whore” (by Hole) and “Just A Gigolo” (Leonello Casucci and Julius Brammer) sets the tone and expectation of the show.
This will not be looking back at a small collection of songs literally sung in those dissolute bars and clubs, but rather including them with more contemporary fare presented in the same style.
So, Britney Spears’s “Oops, It Did It Again” becomes the lament of someone dealing with the thorny business of falling in love and playing the game.
With “Assassins Sans Couteaux” (associated with Julienne) and “Song of Black Max” (Bolcom and Arnold Weinstein), we find ourselves following stories of life on the edge and in the shadows.
The spirits of Lotte Lenya, Piaf, and Dietrich are all present on this stage, whether in the first act or in the second, where Dagmarr switches to a white suit with glittering lapels.
Looking like a love child of George Michael and Princess Diana, the blond chanteuse says little but pulls out all the stops in song.
Three staple favourites of the cabaret are present and correct. “Masculinum-Feminium” (Spoliansky and Marcellus Schiffer) with its clever wordplay and positive image of sexuality and gender is a tongue-twisted for any artist, but is delivered here with pride.
“3 Sweethearts Have I” (from the film The Devil Is A Woman) is a lively ditty appropriated with much innuendo around flowers, veg, and pastries And “The Lavender Song” (Spoliansky and Kurt Schwabach) proves that queer pride has been around for at least 100 years.
Newby’s accompaniment is constant and complementary; these two clearly work well together, and in her solo playing of “Jealousy” and “Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß/Falling in Love Again” proves her affinity with the period.
The “Habanera” from Carmen adds a touch of the gypsy rebellion to proceedings, while “Surabaya Johnny”, from Happy End and written by Kurt Weill, Elisabeth Hauptmann, and Bertolt Brecht showcases the age old story of the wrong guy and the lovestruck girl.
The influence of Weill and his muse Lenya on cabaret shows in “Nannas Lied”, the story of a fallen woman, a prostitute, and the choices she had to make.
The grit within the glitter has never been so clearly depicted, and the return to Happy End for the “Sailor’s Tango” is selfishness personified.
Weimar Berlin was a place of freedom but also a place of danger, of risks, or repression. Through Dagmarr’s show, we find out little about the background of such a place, even if we know how it and the 1930s ended. A little more context might be welcome.
Dagmarr is an impressive artist, with a wide vocal range and a manner that challenges audiences to look at him. He is a peacock, a vamp, a socialite, a sailor, a sex worker, an ingenue.
Vamps of Weimar is one of several regular shows performed by Hersh Dagmarr. For more information, visit his website.
***.5