Feature: Kim David Smith Spills on Hallo-Wien & Christmas Shows

On a misty April evening at the Church of St. Mary on the Lower East Side, I first encountered Kim David Smith. Draped in a vintage Mugler gown and topped with a rakish hat, he commanded the transformed space of Tiergarten, an immersive 1920s Berlin speakeasy created as part of Carnegie Hall’s Weimar Festival. As he channeled Marlene Dietrich’s world-weary cynicism through “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda,” I witnessed an artist who could traverse the delicate line between mordant satire and heartfelt sincerity with remarkable grace.

Months later, over a morning video call, I find myself face-to-face with the man dubbed the  “David Bowie of cabaret.” Smith greets me with the magnetic presence I remembered from that April evening, though now clad in a sleek black turtleneck rather than vintage couture.

“I maintain that even though composing show bios is a challenging and arduous task, one just needs to get in there and do it. It’s good for you,” Smith declares early in our conversation, revealing both his work ethic and his playful defiance of present-day shortcuts. In our age of AI and automated content creation, Smith stands as a champion of artisanal craft in all its forms.

The Australian-born, New York City-based performer has carved out a niche in the cabaret world, reimagining classics while infusing contemporary pop into the mix. His October performances at the Neue Galerie exemplify this fusion of past and present. On October 30, Smith will present a “Marlene-o-ween” edition of More Mostly Marlene at Café Sabarsky, where “Padam Padam” will meet “Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß” in what he promises to be a “champagne-soaked celebration of all things Dietrich.” The following night, he’ll host the Junior Council’s Hallo-Wien costume ball, which he enthusiastically describes as “my favorite party of the year!” The festivities will feature Smith as both performer and costume competition judge, with guests encouraged to come dressed as everything from Klimt paintings to Beetlejuices. December 13 brings A Wery Weimar Christmas to Club Cumming, featuring original holiday tunes penned by Smith and his longtime musical director Tracy Stark, including “Don’t Let Krampus Catch You Crying.” The show promises guest appearances from Bright Light Bright Light, Artemisia LeFay, Boy Radio, and Pearls Daily as burlesque Jesus.

What fascinates me is Smith’s perspective on authenticity — or rather, his rejection of it as a concrete concept. “Can we intrinsically, with finality, say a performer or performance is authentically authentic?” he questions. “Especially when you’re singing songs from 100 years ago, well, I’m obviously not authentically that, because the people of that time are all dead.”

Instead, Smith advocates for presence — a quality that radiates through both his stage performances and casual conversation. “What we are doing, today, is being authentically present. If anything, we’re just being authentically present singing Friedrich Hollander songs that are 100 years old, about feelings that are thousands of years old.”

This philosophy extends to his approach to performance spaces. Speaking about Café Sabarsky, housed in a Gilded-Age Vanderbilt mansion, Smith’s eyes light up: “It’s really one of the things I’m most proud of, about my performing life, being welcomed into a space so stately, so beautifully curated.” He describes the venue as a “gravity well, for art and fabulousness,” where he often imagines himself “weaving around the crowd, stroking people’s faces, and just having a really, really good, and extremely present time.”

Smith’s devotion to presence over authenticity manifests in his creative process as well. When discussing the addition of “Just a Gigolo” to his Marlene rep, he recalls a moment of unexpected emotional connection: “You know how sometimes you can hear a song after like, 10 years and be suddenly crushed by the weight of a lyric that hadn’t previously really resonated?” The song came to him during a peaceful moment on his balcony, leading to tears into his “Kylie rosé.”

This blend of high art and pop culture is quintessentially Smith. He moves effortlessly between discussing Weimar Republic classics and Kylie Minogue hits, finding equal value in both. His appreciation for Minogue, whom he’s followed since receiving her first album at age six, stems from her self-assured artistry: “She’s not trying to be anything or anyone but Kylie; she owns herself, sitting in the very seat of comfort of herself, and she knows herself.”

As our conversation winds down, Smith reflects on the intersection of his artistic and professional lives — he maintains a day job alongside his performing career. “I am in a position where I can be my own arts patron,” he explains. “Artists are always artists, whether I am setting up a meeting for five executives across three different countries as part of my day job, or if I am tenderly spotlit, whispering the final words of ‘Just a Gigolo’ to an audience in Provincetown.” And this, I’d venture to argue, is what makes Smith’s performances so compelling beyond historical accuracy and contemporary relevance. He is ever-commited to presence — to being fully in the moment with his audience, whether in an oak-paneled ballroom or a downtown club. As he puts it, with characteristic flourish: “I sure do urge folks to come to the cabaret, and be authentically present with me!”

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Learn more about Kim David Smith at kimdavidsmith.com.

Tickets to Kim's October 30th show at Cafe Sabarsky are available on their website.

Tickets to Hallo-Wein are available here.

Tickets to A Wery Weimar Christmas in December are available here.

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