Review: COMING TO AMERICA: AN IMMIGRANT CABARET at Atlas Performing Arts Center

It may be the case that any theatrical work dealing with political or social themes gains an added level of immediacy and urgency by virtue of being staged in or near Washington, DC.  That's certainly the case with ExPats Theatre's new production "Coming to America: an Immigrant Cabaret."  Now showing at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Northeast DC, the rollicking revue provides a thoroughly enjoyable refutation of the xenophobic rhetoric which has emanated from the buildings nearby. 

ExPats was founded by Karin Rosnizeck, a German immigrant with several years of experience working in international relations as a translator. She serves as the company's artistic director and directed and appears in "Coming to America."  In her director's note, she writes, "Cabaret is not about perfection, but about the beautiful mess of being human. Embracing the raw edges of actual performance, cabaret lives in the cracks, the sweat, and the unpredictable moments. Its magic lies in its vulnerability and raw honesty.  For immigrant artists coming to America from different countries, cultural stereotypes and culture clashes provide plenty of material to explore, twist, and to play with."  And, indeed, Rosnizeck and her ensemble bring this "beautiful mess" to vivid life. She is joined onstage by Jacqueline Youm, a Senegalese immigrant and prolific actor and director at various DC-area community and professional theatres, with whom this writer co-starred in "Much Ado About Nothing" in 2024; Erick Acuna, a Peruvian-born stand-up comedian; and Vidyuth Sreenivasan, an Indian performer, researcher, and yoga instructor. Each of the four share stories of their Americanization. Early in the production, Youm, clad in traditional African garb, related that she grew up in a village where she was raised by her aunts, did dances to appeal to the gods and rode her pet lion to school each day. "Just kidding," she says, before relating that she is a lawyer whose father worked for the IMF, and that Senegal has one of the most advanced economies in Africa. Rosnizeck discusses Germany's long tradition of supplying many of the world's greatest scientists, composers, and philosophers. "Until a failed Austrian art student took over and..." she starts, before being hushed by her fellow performers. She recounts her days working at the US consulate in Berlin, and how effective American "soft power" propaganda, in the form of movies, TV, and other pop culture, was in making America appealing in Germany. Sreenivasan asks the audience to guess why he left India for the US. "Was it because I had a midlife crisis and wanted to burn everything down and start again, the promise of a new career, or because I fell in love with an American?" he asks, before revealing that the answer is "all of the above," and sharing the culture shock he experienced on his journey. Acuna waxes poetic about the natural beauty of his native Peru, and his young, romanticized view of American action films, athletics, and college life. He also provides one of the performance's most serious and haunting interludes, as he discusses his fear in age of ICE raids and mass deportations. "The police officer driving around the city, he doesn't know who I am, what my status is," Acuna says. "I read the news and wonder, am I next?"

The cast perform comedy sketches exploring the immigrant experience through vignettes from daily life. In one segment, Sreenivasan attempts to guide Acuna in Yoga class while Youm and Rosnizeck loudly and obnoxiously take selfies and videos.

The cabaret is bookended by bombastic performances of the Neil Diamond tune from which it takes its title. The small orchestra under the guidance of music director Zak Sandler also accompanies the cast in a variety of funny musical parodies.

The United States celebrated the semiquincentennial anniversary of its founding this year, a fact which you are reminded of constantly walking around the capital region. "Coming to America" is a funny, moving reminder that our nation's history has long been the story of immigrants drawn by the "lamp beside the golden door" to come and make better lives for themselves, and so often enriching life here, and that immigrants, like all of us, are part of "the beautiful mess of being human." It's songs and sketches haunt as you walk out of the Atlas onto the streets of DC, decked with "America 250" signs and National Guard soldiers walk by you on the sidewalk.

As it happens, this show was part of a musical theatre-saturated week for me. I saw it on Wednesday night. The night before, I attended "Dirty Dancing" at the National, which I reviewed for this publication. As I said there, beneath the romance and kinetic foot and body work lurk the once-again sadly relevant themes of social upheaval and reproductive autonomy. The next day, I attended a matinee performance of "Come From Away," the acclaimed ensemble musical about the small Newfoundland town of Gander which opened its doors and hearts to marooned airline travelers on 9/11. Aidan O'Connor reviewed that show and gave it a deservingly glowing review. I'll only add my praise and urge you to see it if you get the chance. Last month marked the 25th anniversary of that tragedy, so one-tenth of American history now falls under the heading of the "Post-9/11 era."  Seeing these shows in rapid succession gives one a greater appreciation for the ability of ordinary people from diverse backgrounds to come together in solidarity, and for the great power of art as a vehicle for humanization and understanding.

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