Interview: David Malinsky's I WANT THE WORLD at Don't Tell Mama Is a Madcap Exploration of Life

Singer David Malinsky has a secret! He wants A LOT, but he doesn’t know what it is. He has always had an image of himself, grounded in a rejection of connection and community… and even love… But in I Want the World, a madcap exploration of life, time, space and music, featuring a collection of songs as varied and eccentric as he is, Dave shows us and embraces his True Self, and keeps us laughing–and thinking–along the way!

Read a conversation with David about the show.

How does it feel to be making your solo cabaret debut?

Amazing!   I’m VERY excited and deeply grateful for the opportunity!  Cabaret has a deeply passionate and creative community and I’m honored to be taking my own place in it! Discovering cabaret was a real revelation––I wish I had done so ages ago!

I only learned about this art form a few years ago, but when I first saw it in action, I knew I wanted to take part.  Beforehand, I was looking at stand-up comedy, which was certainly interesting but perhaps not the right tool for the stories I wanted to tell.  Laughter is great, but I wanted to get people to think and feel as well.  I started with Michael Kirk Lane and Yaz Fukuoka at the 92NY School of Music as a way to get my feet wet.  Meeting Michael and Yaz at the Y was deeply inspiring!  

What impressed me most about cabaret was its diversity of subject matter as well as genre.  I used my sets with the 92NY classes to explore different genres with a very…boyish or nerdy perspective.  From trains, to video gaming, to military history.  Over time I got comfortable sharing more of myself as well.

But what else got me here?

I had some voice training from elementary school to college, but I stopped for some reason I don’t even remember.  It was being cast in a musical by a friend in upstate New York that re-ignited my interest: I knew I needed to get back into voice training.  I found a vocal coach online, Mary Elizabeth Drake, at The Vocal Coaches.  She helped me find my voice again. 

While I didn't end up doing the show upstate,, I knew I still wanted to put my voice training to good use!   The rest, I guess, is history.

Where did the concept for this show come from?

I’ve always had a very wide variety of interests.  A major problem I see with the world today is everyone loves their own siloes but doesn't venture much outside of them. I think it is vitally important to bring different genres and periods together to get people interested in types of music they haven’t heard before. Cabaret is a great tool for breaking down those walls!

It took a while to figure out how to express that idea in the form of a show, but we finally figured it out.  Out of an ironic desire to encompass everything, I figured the title of “I Want the World” would fit.  It’s an interesting name and is as broad as possible while still being engaging.

What type of music will you be featuring in this show? Who are some of your musical inspirations?

I am proud to say we are covering three centuries of music in “I Want the World!”  Having a wide variety of music is really important to me! From Gilbert and Sullivan, to folk, to 80s pop, to kids’ TV themes, to Stephen Sondheim, to Internet gaming meme music.  I remember growing up on musical theater, [and] plenty of show tunes!  But it was the lyricism of “G&S” and the narrative and melodic complexity of Sondheim that really spoke to me.

I’m a millennial and that perspective matters too.  I’ve grown alongside gaming and internet culture, and I want to show how these two cultures have more in common than they know. Geeks, gamers, internet folks, they have their own musical traditions!  I want to connect what has so often been divided.  That’s what “the world” is all about, after all!

Are there any other upcoming projects you've been working on lately that you want to tell us about?

While preparing for I Want the World, I was in a unique production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.  We replaced the word “Earnest” with the word “Gay” to hilarious and heartfelt results.  It gave me so much joy to do both theater and cabaret within some time from each other.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Thank you so much for arranging this interview and I look forward to seeing you at I Want the World!

Follow David Malinsky on Instagram here.