Lena

When staying in Landau in 2010 I had the great pleasure of making friends with our host daughter, Lena, who was even kind enough to drive to Eberbach to see a performance of the Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem in the 2011 tour.  Though she doesn’t live in Landau any more, she was still close enough to come pick me up after a rehearsal and take me around for an afternoon.  I consider myself fortunate to get to see her once a year, which is more than I can even say for friends I have back in the States (and hell, even back in Houston sometimes).
We only had a couple of hours, so we drove to nearby Karlsruhe to take a quick walk by the local castle. I could lie and tell you all kinds of history about the architecture, former residents, cultural importance, etc., but to be honest we really just walked passed it and took in the view.

 

It was a particularly hot day, so Lena decided we would meet up with one of her friends to chat and have some ice cream (or ice as they prefer to call it here).  Whatever you call it, they definitely do it up right!

 

It’s popular here to have the ice extruded in a certain way that resembles spaghetti, as is seen on the right. Don’t know why, but I’m not complaining

Short but sweet, my visits with Lena are always just lovely.  Until next year?!

Deutche besties!

Artist: Ute Lemper / Album: But One Day…

Cabaret

 

And now for something entirely non-holiday related… I watched Blazing Saddles for the first time the other day (well, the first time in my “adult life” where I could actually get the humor), and for some reason I had no idea that Madeline Kahn had a cabaret number in the movie.  Some of you may remember my love for her in a previous post about Clue: The Movie.  For her performance as Lili von Shtupp she was nominated for an Academy Award.  (And to be clear Oscar nominations for comedies, especially Mel Brooks comedies, are basically non-existent). Unfortunately none of the videos of her cabaret performance, “I’m So Tired” are available for embedding but you can follow this link to see it on youtube!

 

Since we’re on the subject of cabaret music, and since it is dreadfully grey and rainy outside, I thought I would put up a couple of my other cabaret favorites.  Given my love for the genre I could fill several blog posts with clips but I figure most of you didn’t even follow the first link so I won’t clutter you’re browser up with too many other ones.

Last year when I was doing auditions in New York I was staying with my friend Jamison, and as a thank you for housing me I took him to see German-born (aren’t they all) cabaret singer Ute Lemper at Joe’s Pub.  Basically it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.

(Not from Joe’s Pub, btw)

 

As long as we are talking about Jamison, here is his favorite Kurt Weill song as sung by the immeasurably talented Teresa Stratas.

Biscuit be CRAY CRAY!

The lyrics are too good and too depressing not to put up as well:

It was almost to the end of the world
That my wandering boat
Straying at the will of the waves
Led me one day
The isle is very small
But the kind fairy that lives there
Invites us
To take a look around

Youkali
Is the land of our desires
Youkali
Is happiness, pleasure
Youkali
Is the land where we forget all our worries
It is in our night, like a bright rift
The star we follow
It is Youkali

Youkali
Is the respect of all vows exchanged
Youkali
Is the land of love returned
It is the hope
That is in every human heart
The deliverance
We await for tomorrow

Youkali
Is the land of our desires
Youkali
Is happiness, pleasure
But it is a dream, a folly
There is no Youkali

And life carries us along
Tediously, day by day
But the poor human soul
Seeking forgetfulness everywhere
Has, in order to escape the world
Managed to find the mystery
In which our dreams burrow themselves
In some Youkali

Youkali
Is the land of our desires
Youkali
Is happiness, pleasure
Youkali
Is the land where we forget all our worries
It is in our night, like a bright rift
The star we follow
It is Youkali

Youkali
Is the respect of all vows exchanged
Youkali
Is the land of love returned
It is the hope
That is in every human heart
The deliverance
We await for tomorrow

Youkali
Is the land of our desires
Youkali
Is happiness, pleasure
But it is a dream, a folly
There is no Youkali

But it is a dream, a folly
There is no Youkali

 

Finally, so as not to leave you too utterly despondent, here is a charming parody of cabaret music by the British comedy troupe, Fascinating Aida, that my friend Jeremy introduced me to.  It’s basically a road map on how to sing this style of music absolutely correctly.

Artist: John Kander, Fred Ebb/ Album: Cabaret