Review: "Cabaret: A Night with the Dead," A Spiritual Feast
Cabaret: A Night with the Dead
Presented by FRIGID New York, Something from Abroad, and Quemoción at UNDER St. Marks
94 St Marks Pl, Manhattan, NYC
November 2, 2024
The theatre space is beautifully appointed for the occasion, with papel picado, or traditional paper banners, adorning the room. A guitar player plays a gentle meandering melody as the audience members find their seats and the festivities begin.
At the center of the stage is the ofrenda, a beautiful altar to the departed, adorned with photographs of lost loved ones and the objects that they held near and dear while still shuffling along on this mortal coil. Decorated with cempasúchitl (also known as marigolds) and warmed by the glow of projected candlelight, audience members are encouraged to add the names of their lost loved ones to this altar – written down on post-its and added to the wall behind the ofrenda, joining those celebrants on stage in remembering all of those who have passed. What proceeds is a haunted and heartfelt cabaret in the form of a variety show unified by a dark sensibility, playfulness, and a deep and abiding love for deceased friend and family member alike. This is the sort of celebration makes our lost ones present, at least for the night, and we couldn’t be happier for the company.
Standout performances abound.
Masterfully guiding us through the night’s proceedings as MC is the ever-talented Frederico Mallet (co-founder of Quemoción), face perfectly painted as calavera de azucar or sugar skull, a ubiquitous Dia De Los Muertos symbol for the deceased. He takes his time to explain to a sometimes-novice audience the significance of all that surrounds us – the heartfelt and near tragic story of lovers and the cempasúchitl and why our pan de muerto looks just the way it does. Mallet will come and go throughout the performance, providing continuity and an air of generous hospitality which undergirds the entirety of the evening.
Bibi Sanchez performs an incredibly funny and tender original monologue written and directed by Charlie Huff. Bibi is a departed soul in search of Charlie, who has gone missing, and she thusly anticipates the worst (as do all of us). We are to learn, thankfully, smiling along with an exasperated Bibi, that he had just stepped out for groceries. To err is to be human, and even the dead are human.
Marta Preve Ayora (co-founder of Something From Abroad) tells us a touching and haunted tale from her Spanish-language collection Thirteen Stories for October, thirteen stories penned for a child reticent at bedtime. Tonight’s tale – masterfully translated into English by Preve Ayora herself – is that of a dog, Tito, and as we all come to learn, “not all dogs go to heaven, some stay at home.”
Daniel Gutiérrez offers a loving letter to his deceased father. Though this piece is composed and read in Spanish, it is performed with such deep and authentic feeling that Spanish- and non-Spanish-speakers alike in the audience understand what this relationship meant, grasping Daniel’s final, untranslated “te amo” perfectly.
Closing out the evening is the show-stopping Sandra Zucko. And what better way to close out a night as auspicious as this than a bit of burlesque? Zucko’s is a tastefully tantalizing number, perfectly choreographed from the removal of that first glove, reminding the audience that even in our reverence and celebration of the dead, what we are doing tonight is celebrating life.
As the lights come up, the audience is invited to join the cast for pan de muerto and hot chocolate, a perfect and sweet finish to this night of memory and cabaret.
-Noah Simon Jampol
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