Listen: Kim David Smith's New Single 'Illusions' With Charles Busch Out Now

Kim David Smith has released the new single from his upcoming album Mostly Marlene. “Illusions” – a studio duet with Tony-nominated playwright and performer Charles Busch, written by Weimar-era composer Friedrich Hollaender – is available in streaming and digital formats today, Friday, March 7. Mostly Marlene will be released on Friday, March 21. The entrancing and wryly humorous entertainer was nominated for the Helpmann Award, Australia’s highest honor for the performing arts. He was just nominated for a 2025 MAC Award for “Major Artist.” Smith will celebrate the album’s release with a special New York concert at Joe’s Pub on Friday, March 21 at 9:30 PM. 

 
Smith reflects: “They say never work with your idols; I say only work with your idols! In assembling voices for these Mostly Marlene duets, my personal mission was to gather the queerest, bravest, kindest, and most fun folks I know; friends, family, and artists who inspire me in my own work and in life, both. Charles Busch and I first met at an erotic drawing group in Soho, around 10 years ago, swiftly establishing a friendship that has nurtured and enriched my life on and off the stage – I was unspeakably excited when Charles said yes to my idea of a duet of Dietrich’s too-famous “Illusions,” and further dazzled when he kindly volunteered original dialogue for the song (spoken by we two, over the strains of a sly, Kylie Minogue ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ sample in the piano accompaniment). I’m so proud to have this moment preserved, and to have one of my most truly special friendships documented in so fabulous a fashion.”
 
Mostly Marlene, recorded live at the New York hotspot Joe’s Pub, features guest vocalists: pop wunderkind Bright Light Bright Light and New York cabaret legend Sidney Myer. In addition to the concert, the 21-track album also features bonus studio duets with Tony-nominated playwright and performer Charles Busch, downtown luminary Joey Arias, Australian opera star Ali McGregor, and Smith’s own darling mother Linda Randall. The album and upcoming concert feature music director Tracy Stark on piano, in addition to Matt Podd on accordion, Skip Ward on bass, and David Silliman on drums.
 
The recording celebrates the music associated with Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992), the German/American actress, singer, fashion icon, and provocateur. With a focus on Marlene’s collaborations with Weimar-era composer Friedrich Hollaender, the program sees Smith’s queer mega-muses – Minnelli, Minogue, Madonna, and more – collide with Dietrich’s reimagined repertoire in luxurious musical rearrangements, traveling from Weimar Berlin, to Hollywood, through to the battlefields of Europe, and beyond.
 
Smith says: “Mostly Marlene is a behemoth of joyous gay sensibilities; Minnelli, Minogue, and of course, Marlene, are manifested not only in the idolatry practice of queer worship (arguably an artform in and of itself), but also as a musical tableau against which I exist in my gayest form: as an internationally fame-ish cabaret nuisance. Releasing this record in 2025 feels akin to an act of protest, in fact, I declare it as such: wreathing myself in the music of one of the world’s most celebrated bisexuals, I pronounce myself QUEER with every whispered aside, and every belted showtune alike, and in the listening of Mostly Marlene, I invite my audience to celebrate queer existence as resistance.”
 
The album features selections performed by Dietrich in her iconic film career such as “Falling in Love Again” (The Blue Angel, 1930), “The Boys in the Back Room” (Destry Rides Again, 1939), “Black Market” (A Foreign Affair, 1948), and “Just a Gigolo” (Just a Gigolo, 1978), in addition to songs she performed in concert and recorded in the studio. The album also includes Smith’s performance of Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam” – in an original French translation by cabarettist Gay Marshall – and his barn-storming all-German rendition of Kander & Ebb’s “Cabaret.”
 
Mostly Marlene debuted at Club Cumming in New York City’s East Village and toured to the 2021 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, and the Post Office Café in Provincetown, while frequently returning to New York at Club Cumming (2021-2023), Pangea, and Café Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie.