Interview: Kim David Smith Celebrates New Album, MOSTLY MARLENE, at Joe's Pub

Kim David Smith, the provocative international singer and actor, will release the new album Mostly Marlene in digital and streaming platforms on Friday, March 21. The entrancing and wryly humorous entertainer, hailed as the “David Bowie of cabaret” by BroadwayWorld – was nominated for the Helpmann Award, Australia’s highest honor for the performing arts. 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.

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, 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.

We spoke with Kim about the new album, release concert and more.

How does it feel to be releasing your Mostly Marlene album?

It’s a wonderful feeling – this album is not only a celebration of Marlene Dietrich, the music associated with her, and my barely-troubling obsession with her, but also a celebration of my love and appreciation for the extremely special friends I corralled to join me on this record: Sidney Myer, my cabaret father; Charles Busch; Joey Arias; Ali McGregor; Bright Light Bright Light; and my mum, Linda Randall! Each of these people has influenced and nurtured my life on and off the stage, and I’m just so tickled to show the world just how much I adore them all.

This is your second album recorded live at Joe’s Pub. What do you like about recording live rather than in the studio?

I love both, honestly, and my next project will definitely be a studio album. Having said that, I love, love, love the vibe of a really good live album, and that’s what we all strived to create here – myself, Tracy Stark (music director, pianist, and Best Friend), our amazing band, and all my special guest vocalists. One of my favorite things is curling up on the couch of an evening with my husband, opening a bottle of Kylie Minogue rosé, and putting on a favorite live record: Marlene Dietrich, Live at Café de Paris, 1954 (recorded on what would become my birthday, incidentally!); Eartha Kitt: Live in London, 1989; Liza Minnelli: Live in New York, 1979; Bette Midler, Live at Last, 1977; or Donna Summer’s Live and More, 1978. Each of these albums are pure, unadulterated heaven, and feel, in the listening, like an amazing night out – I feel like MOSTLY MARLENE gives a really good sense of being out and about at a super queer, super fabulous nightspot in New York – because that’s exactly what it was when we recorded it in February of 2024! 

How did you decide who to ask to sing with you on this upcoming album, and what tracks they would sing with you?

MOSTLY MARLENE is all about celebrating important connections in my life: Charles and Joey have been immense influences on my work, and I treasure my friendships with them dearly. Sidney Myer gave me my first residency in town at Don’t Tell Mama (oh, how I love that place!), back in 2008, and has been a champion of mine ever since. He performed at my wedding, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Bright Light Bright Light is a dear friend, and a performer I look up to and celebrate with all my heart. Ali McGregor made space for me on the Melbourne cabaret scene very early on in my career (I’m talking 2004 or 2005), and makes so much space for burgeoning, fabulous young people – she’s Australia’s most wonderful cabaret artist – I say that without hyperbole – and her magnificent soprano is a delight beyond measure (check out her version of Radiohead’s “Creep”) – I was so delighted when she said yes to appearing on the album!  And then there’s my beautiful mum, Linda Randall! She came over from Australia for my 40th birthday in 2023, and so we got her into the studio for a gorgeous duet version of Friedrich Hollaender’s “A Little Yearning” – she even learned the German for the final chorus! I’m so proud to have a duet with mum on MOSTLY MARLENE.

What reception have you gotten on the single you released so far, “Cabaret”?

Folks have been lovely in their responses to both “Cabaret” and “Illusions,” my duet with Charles Busch, which came out on Friday, March 7, the day the 2025 MAC Awards were announced, which turned out to be delightfully fitting, as Charles is receiving the Lifetime Achievement award, and I’ve been nominated in the Major Artist category; it felt like Illusions was a perfect way to celebrate Charles on that day! 

Are you planning to do anything differently in your live album release show?

Tracy, the band, and I are putting together five new songs for the show, which I’m really excited about; some Tom Waits, some new Kylie, some new/old Marlene…I can’t wait!

A lot has happened, politically, between when you recorded this album last year, and now. Does it feel any differently to you to be performing these Weimar-era songs in 2025 vs 2024?

Well, there’s the upsetting return to relevance, of course, but I’m very much looking forward to the escapism and optimism of being in a welcoming, warm setting full of queer folks and allies; community is the only way we’re going to get through all of this, and I am keen to gather my people and to focus on what makes us proud and powerful.

Now that this album is done, what are you planning to work on next?

I’m planning to gay out at Kylie’s upcoming New York and Boston shows! That’s the next prize my queer little eyes are on! 

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I’m super grateful for this chat, Rebecca, and want to thank you and BroadwayWorld for making space for this conversation; it’s a lot of work cutting through the noise – especially as a self-produced performer (I guess in the recording sense an “Indie” act), but I believe this is a special record, and I’m so thankful you’re giving us the platform to celebrate it. I can’t wait for listeners to stream and enjoy MOSTLY MARLENE!

Learn more about Kim David Smith online at kimdavidsmith.com

You can pre-order the new album on Apple Music here. Customers who pre-order Kim’s digital album will immediately receive a download of the first single, a powerful German-language version of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “Cabaret.”