Review: KIM DAVID SMITH at Club Cumming

Taking a page from Alan Cumming's book, Kim David Smith turned up for his cabaret in a black suit and top hat, recalling Cumming's famous portrayal of the Emcee from Cabaret--fitting, considering the venue (and also Smith's own performances as the Emcee). From there the allusions remained ever clear as he serenaded the audience with a raunchy cabaret befitting even the most outlandish of that iconic role's antics. Never ceasing to let a double entendre or two go, Smith was even sometimes direct--at one point after making a randy joke stating that it had been a "single entendre." Smith found that sweet spot in cabaret where drag performers thrive, strutting his stuff, while charming the audience. His most family-friendly joke of the evening consisted of a Harry Potter reference when he, after a joke he awarded, "Ten points to Slytherin," and followed up calmly with "and ten points detracted from lesser houses, because what have they done for me lately."

Smith's song choices may not have all been originally as suggestive as he made them, but he certainly upped the ante. Lines like "Is the world still spinning around/I don't feel like coming down/it's in your eyes," from "In Your Eyes" (Julian Gallagher, sung by Kylie Minogue) seemed to describe an intimate moment rather than finding love in a passing moment. Part of this was also context as Smith had plenty of lines that resembled this nugget, "Most people seek one love to last a lifetime, but that's not what I had in mind." An Australian who has been profiled by The New York Times, he delivered some of his greatest moments covering the most successful female singer of Australia, Kylie Minogue. In addition to "In Your Eyes," his "Lifetime to Repair" (Kylie Minogue and Daniel Shah, Justus Nzeribe, Steve McEwan) rendition tantalized an appreciative audience with lines like, "Romeo's still lives in my head" and "Gimme that guarantee and I'll be there."

Smith knew his audience, that was for sure, though he did add a little something different with quite a few sprinklings of German. He also pulled away from the theme of love and seduction briefly to feed the aura. Eased in between a pining anthem comparing a loved one to a shooting star and "Dracula's Tango (Sucker for Your Love)" (Paul Greedus, Barry Blue), a funny song about seduction in the supernatural sense, Smith reminded the audience that he's "not mild-mannered like you/ [he] should really be kept in a zoo." These are only a pair of the lines from Ute Lemper's "I'm a Vamp" where Smith really portrayed his inner Killer Queen, singing, "I Wear Mata Hari's dress, the ring of Marie Antoinette/the fairest Helen wore this corset."

Kim David Smith certainly knew how to capture attention, hallmarks of a great Emcee.