Reviewed 15th June 2013
Annie Siegmann is performing her latest cabaret performance,
Girl on the Drink: From Gutter to Glamour in Satire and Song, at the very intimate venue, La Boheme, which ideally suits the even greater intimacy of her production. Siegmann has not touched alcohol for just over six months now, and so this is a very personal, revealing, and often dark tale of her struggle with the demon drink.
It begins with songs of the fun of drinking and partying to excess, bragging of being only 23 years old and able to drink 23 pints, but this soon gives way to songs of the bad side of alcoholism, the costs, monetary and physically, the waste of a life, the depressions, the realisation and then the ray of hope and the determination to make a change, a very drastic change that leads to a celebration of achievement. The extremely talented Siegmann writes all of her own songs, and so they tell the audience exactly what she wants to say, and this makes for a wonderfully coherent narrative.
There are so many elements of this production that show a firm link right back to the height of German Kabarett between the wars. One number, in triple time, even gives a strong reference to the works of
Kurt Weill. Over a piano introduction she adds an intricate line on melodica. She accompanies herself on ukulele on another. Neither of these are gimmicks, however, as they sit well with the songs. Other numbers are reminiscent of the cabaret of post war Paris, and the songs of the stars of that time,
Jacques Brel and
Edith Piaf. These are songs of gritty reality, sometimes told with a black humour, and sometimes with a bare and stark honesty.
That is not to say that she is blatantly copying those great cabaret composers of the past. The connection to that history is not explicit, but implicit in the poetry of her lyrics, the integration of lyrics and music, and the overall atmosphere of her work. Each song is superbly crafted and filled with emotion, then brilliantly performed.
This performance is what cabaret is all about: engaging, moving, and powerful. Siegmann has been growing rapidly in artistic stature, and in the quality of her work, and this is a major highlight that confirms all of the predictions that were made early in her cabaret career. This is a profound work that stands alone as a cabaret performance of the highest quality, but can also serve as both a warning, and a source of hope for others.
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