REVIEW: Tiergarten Transports
Above, Kim David Smith in Tiergarten. Photo by Kevin Condon.
April 17, 2024
“Yessssss…you may applaud,” winked Kim David Smith, following his breathless opening set as Master of Ceremonies of Tiergarten, the monumental, immersive cabaret experience being staged in The Great Hall under the Church of St. Mary on the Lower East Side. One of the strongest entries in Carnegie Hall’s season-long festival examining the Weimar Republic, Tiergarten is a spectacular convergence of art and entertainment.
Created, written, and directed by Andrew Ousley, visionary producer and founder of Death of Classical, Tiergarten takes its name from the large, historic park in Berlin, the “Garden of Beasts,” and transports the audience from cabaret tables with bottles of bubbly to a 1920s Berlin speakeasy. Ousley has devised an epic journey through the human experience, in the form of a flowing evening of delightful music, dance, and visual art, that is by turns amusing, moving, raucous, and provocative.
Kim David Smith is perfectly tailored (and beautifully costumed by Everyday Fay and New York Vintage) for the role. One of today’s most celebrated cabaret performers, known for such appearances as A Wery Weimar Christmas at Club Cumming, Smith is charismatic and captivating.
Drawing inspiration from sources such as Kander & Ebb’s musical Cabaret (a revival of which recently began previews on Broadway), burlesque, Cirque du Soleil, and immersive Sleep No More-like installations, Tiergarten is a delectable feast. Choreography by Liana Zhen-ai and Dylan Contreras, artful burlesque by Pearls Daily, shadow poetry by Foreshadow Puppetry, moody lighting by Abigail Hoke-Brady are situated in dark, cavernous nightclub vibes. Set design is by Claire Caverly.
Photo by Kevin Condon.
The glue around which all of this coalesces is the band, The Grand Street Stompers, playing wryly smart arrangements by trumpeter Gordon Au and trombonist Matt Musselman. A tight rhythm section of piano, guitar (and some crisp and spirited banjo playing), upright bass, and drums anchors a charming combo of winds and a violin, for a versatile color palette that grooved and soared.
Smith’s voice is equal parts sugar and acid to taste, but a terrific assortment of singers — Luke Elmer, Amara Granderson, Ariadne Greif, Melina Jaharis, and Aaron Reeder — fleshed out the eclectic musical program, which veered from a bluegrass-folk take on Vivaldi’s La Folia to a Kurt Weill-esque “Time Warp” (from The Rocky Horror Picture Show). Smith’s witty repartee time-warps us from Weimar Berlin to World War I; the American Revolution; Protestant Reformation; Salem Witch Trials; Fall of the Roman Empire; and 33 AD. Weill, his music basically defining the genre, is featured with “Pirate Jenny,” “Alabama Song,” and “Lost in the Stars,” balanced with cabaret songs of Marlene Dietrich and a devastating “Strange Fruit,” as well as Renaissance vocal music (Byrd and Monteverdi — beautifully sung) and Kylie Minogue.
The audience was transported, through musical brilliance, seemingly tossed off as if on a nightly basis, and in the evening’s surprising visual twists and emotional resonance and depth. Tiergarten should become a regular fixture on the New York scene.
Photo by Kevin Condon.
