OUTscene: (RE-view) Seattle Men's Chorus' 'Falling in Love Again' was Fabelhaft and Kühlen!

SMC conducted by the Great Dennis Coleman

by MK Scott
OUTscene Editor

When I attended the latest offering from the Seattle Men's Chorus this past Saturday I was thrilled that the first half of the concert would be a celebration of Pre-WWII Germany that would include songs from my Favorite Broadway show, 'Cabaret' and more.

Nick Garrison

In Act I, Life is a Cabaret, Seattle Men's Chorus along with special guests (The Flaming) Nick Garrison and (Sexy and smooth)  Spectrum Dance Theater brought to life the free-wheeling high spirits of the pre-war Weimar period with outrageously entertaining music by Kurt Weill, Kander and Ebb (Cabaret), and 'Falling in Love Again' made popular by German icon Marlene Dietrich (David Caldwell). With High energy and the talent of Nick Garrisson as the Emcee, (The same role he played in 2007's  5th Avenue Theatre production of Cabaret) . Spectrum Theater dancers help interpret this riveting chapter of gay history through dance. SMC's delightful staging, costumes, and choral arrangements for beloved tunes like Mack the Knife, Love for Sale with the male prostitute doing better than the 2 other Females, the first act was Fabelhaft (Fabulous)! 

Gad (Pichette) remembers Manfred
(Smith)

Act II presented Jake Heggie's For a Look or a Touch (commissioned by SMC and Boston Gay Men's Chorus) a poignant look at two gay lovers torn apart by the Holocaust. (Part Narrative/Part Opera) Starring guest baritone Morgan Smith (Seattle Opera) and Seattle actor David Pichette, staged by Intiman Theatre's Andrew Russell, and featuring the full Men's Chorus as a chilling vision of prisoners of a concentration camp. In the story, one of the lovers remembers his 19 year old lover (Manfred) who perished and his now a vision to the surviving Lover (Gad), Decades later. The story is taken from the true story featured in documentary, Paragraph 175. The scene of the 200 member Chorus in prison stripes with one of them with his hands tied and lifted up into the air was Kühlen (Chilling)!

Manfred heads for the Camp!

So Chilling, that I had nightmares later that night of all my family and friends at a Camp counting the days go by. Both parts were great, but I felt that the ending could have been uplifting. In the original synopsis of the concert, it said that after the 'Look and a Touch' the concert would conclude with a few songs of Hope, including Spring Awakening's 'The Purple song of Summer'. That is what was missing! Auf Wiedersehen and Good Night!

"Life is a Cabaret!"