It's All A Swindle at Laurie Beechman Theatre

IT'S ALL A SWINDLE

What do you do when fraught times fetter your hope for a better future, and the world comes crashing all around you? The shades of the past, those who have gone through previous patterns of such historical events, may have wisdom, comfort, and strength to offer you.

Returning to the repertoire of her beloved Weimar Republic, acclaimed dark kabarett chanteuse Artemisia LeFay comes to the mystery-infused stage of The Beechman Theater with a selection of pieces to illustrate and instruct through the universal language of music. Joined by double bassist Clayton Thompson and pianist Renee Guerrero, the three will prove that not only did radical thinkers, folks of the fringe, and vaudevillians of 1920s and 1930s endure times of fascist political upheaval, but their words, songs, and stories have outlived them. Come and see just how people have used music as medicine in this increasingly parallel period of history, when everything was “all a swindle”.

Bertolt Brecht famously asked, “When there are dark times, will people still be singing?” The likes of Claire Waldoff, Kurt Weill, Mischa Spoliansky, Friedrich Hollaender and Hans Eisler have certainly thought so, and Herr Brecht goes on to answer himself: “Yes, they will be singing— about the dark times.”

Artemisia LeFay, kabarettist Renée Guerrero, pianist Clayton Thompson, bassist

"Kabarettist Artemisia LeFay continues to cast her spell over New York's cabaret scene." --Broadway World