Lavender Songs: Queer Weimar Berlin Cabaret – A Show With Teeth
Jeremy Lawrence’s stage alter ego, Tante Fritzy, hit the streets at 15, was a rent boy, served in WWI –
“We wanted to show our Kaiser that despite being ****suckers, we could fight” – and finally became
a cabaret artist. It’s Berlin 1920/1930, just before Hitler took full power. Decadence rules. Brutality and discrimination hover. Fritzy is an artist of a certain age, smart, proud, provocative, cynical, exhausted and so far, a survivor.
At a time when legal rights of transgender Americans are again in the spotlight, depicting one of the first political movements around gender identity is extremely apt. (Germans carried ID cards declaring sexual orientation.) This iteration of the piece might be called “The Election Edition.” Kabarett during the period was rife with political satire and sexual innuendo. In “A Little Attila” (Kurt Tucholsky/Rudolph Nelson), the conqueror is ostensibly a desired type. Fritzi sings “…A cute little brute/Who knows how to shoot…is a hoot.” Its Jewish lyricist committed suicide in 1935.
We hear about elusive love and fatalistic independence: “Love’s fun but love’s never true/I’m not about to be faithful/I lost all I had yesterday/ Now I intend to be playful/Life’s less disappointing that way…I don’t need anyone/I belong to myself… (“I Don’t Know Who I Belong To” – Friedrich Hollaender). There’s poignancy to the edge. Connective comments make things personal, not objective. “I keep thinking about all those people who believe the lies that we didn’t lose the war.”
In “It’s All a Swindle” (1931- Marcellus Schiffer/Mischa Spoliansky), the performer sings “My son’s a mooch and so’s the pooch…The best liar of the hour/Is the one we put in power…” Lavender Songs is full of incisive references to today, some direct translations, others added by Lawrence. Lyrics are masterful, sharp, specific, AND in sync. “I say kick out all the men in the Reichstag whose erections depend on elections…” “Chuck Out the Men” (Friedrich Hollaender).
Fritzi circles the room, drapes herself on a chair, gets an audience member to two step. “She lives quite
a secret life/With her husband and her wife…” (“Masculinum-Femininum”- Marcellus Schiffer/Mischa Spoliansky) The title song proclaims, “Why must boys and girls/Choose between pink and blue/Mix it
up and you get lavender…” (Kurt Schwabach/Mischa Spoliansky).
“The Jews Are All to Blame” (Friedrich Hollaender/Georges Bizet) might have come from the musical Cabaret, but was, in fact, a real song. “If your phone is out of order/If you bathtub springs a leak/If your schnitzel isn’t flaky…” Accusation had no boundaries, no sense. Does today’s rhetoric echo? Fritzi takes
off her wig and dress. “…in my dream I hear Goebbels speak…as long as the nightmare you wake up to isn’t worse than your dream…” “You’ll see what happens when you take my freedom from me/This kitty can bite…” “I am a Vamp” closes the show. Fritzy anticipates the worst, but of course, has no idea.
Jeremy Lawrence has been enmeshed in the Weimar tradition since developing Cabaret Verboten for The Mark Taper Forum in 1990. The actor/playwright is also a lyricist who studied German to better approach material. All English lyrics and poetry are his translations. These showcase not just aptitude of craft but depth of comprehension and empathy.
Photos Alix Cohen
Lavender Songs: A Queer Weimar Berlin Cabaret
Jeremy Lawrence- performer, translator; additional material
Dan Furman- Musical Director
Alan Lareau – Original concept and consultant
Pangea
11th Street and Second Avenue
