Mad Jenny, the brainy provocateur of downtown cabaret, begins a four-month residency at the East Village supper-club Pangea, 178 Second Avenue, beginning Monday March 7 at 7pm. "Love und Greed," her sumptuous theatrical revue blending songs from the Weimar underground with covertly inserted contemporary repertoire, performs the first Monday of the month from March through June. The dates are Mondays March 7 (the opening), April 4, May 2, June 6, all at 7pm.
Created and written by and starring
Jenny Lee Mitchell and directed by Patrice Miller, "Love und Greed" features Maria Dessena on accordion and piano, Ric Becker on trombone, and Marty Isenberg on bass. The arrangements are by Dessena.
Performing songs of longing and protest about money, misogyny, homosexuality, and abortion, not to mention racial hatred and the inexorable march of the war machine, Mad Jenny and The Society Band whip up a post-modern Weimar cabaret that is a chilling reminder that history can and does repeat itself.
Reviewing a sold-out preview at Dixon Place this month, Laura Vogels of PlaysToSee.com called "Love und Greed" "a great night out." Mad about Mad Jenny she added: "What really fascinated was her expert use of stunning costumes, clowning, and physical theatre (...) Her stories held us in suspense (...) she expertly broke any tension with uproarious laughter caused by a cleverly placed joke."
The evening's songwriters include such standouts of the Berlin underground cabaret movement of the '20s and '30s as
Mischa Spoliansky, Friedrich Hollaender, Brecht/Weill, Brecht/Eissler, and Claire Waldoff. Among the modern stowaways are
Debbie Harry,
Annie Lennox, and
David Bowie.
Each night features a number of hand-picked special guests from the demi-mondes of burlesque and cabaret. Guests for the opening on the Monday March 7 will be announced soon.
A native New Yorker,
Jenny Lee Mitchell has lived and performed in Vienna, Munich, Hamburg and Berlin. Versed in clowning, operetta, musical theatre, and cabaret from abroad, she is also a director of theatre. She has acted in and/or directed productions at
59E59 Theaters, 3LD, LaMama ETC, and with Untitled Theater Company #61. She also translates many of the songs in the Mad Jenny repertoire (from German to English), including rarities she's uncovered that were created in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.
Take notice! "Love und Greed" explodes at Pangea, 178 Second Avenue (between 10th & 11th Streets), on Mondays March 7, April 4, May 2, June 6, all at 7pm. There is a $20 charge and a $20 food and drink minimum. To purchase tickets online visit
www.pangeanyc.com, or for info call
212/995-0900. For additional info
www.madjenny.com
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