Karen Kohler’s Little Death: Songs of Coming and Going

Show Description

 “…as cosmopolitan a work of musical theater as I can remember. “Little Death” fearlessly blurs the lines separating cabaret, theater and rock ’n’ roll. Ms. Kohler is a chameleonic performer who stretches her resources to their limits and sometimes beyond. “Little Death” realizes the headiest ambitions of the cabaret art form. But it is Ms. Kohler’s exquisite taste in songs and her band’s ability to play them in any style that leaves you open-mouthed with admiration.” 
-Stephen Holden, New York Times

 Winner of the 2009 Backstage Bistro Award for Outstanding Theme Show

MAC, Bistro and Nightlife Award-winner Karen Kohler stars in "Little Death," a provocative new musical performance exploring the erotic synergies between sex and death that debuted Off-Broadway last fall to critical acclaim. Originally comprised of two distinct shows -- the Sex Act and the Death Act – Kohler has created a special single set showcase just for Joe’s Pub. Singing in five languages, including English, German and French, she crossbreeds a decadent range of theatrical and musical influences, everything from jazz, Delta blues, classical, rock-folk and cabaret.
 
In "Little Death," the actress and vocalist gets into bed with a succession of composers dating back to the 17th century with Henry Purcell, and all the way to the present with Tom Waits.  Her other musical suitors include Jacques Brel, Leonard Cohen, Patrick Doyle, Astor Piazzola, Cole Porter, Franz Schubert, Jane Siberry, Kurt Weill and Wesley "Sox" Wilson.  The iconoclastic Kohler, who is known for bridging distinctly different sensibilities and songbooks, is the founder of the Kabarett Kollektif (an ensemble devoted to European cabaret in its many forms), as well as the founding producer of Kabarett Fête, a widely praised festival that debuted in 2007 and immersed audiences in a daring habitat of international styles.
 
A little death, or la petite mort in French, refers to the post-orgasmic sensation of release, or ecstasy, that poets and eroticists have likened variously to a living death or window into the other world.  Kohler's exploration of what could be called vigor mortis takes us in and out of pain and pleasure, obsession and foreplay, creation and destruction in an entrancing theatre and music dichotomy that is by turns post-coital and post-mortal.  In Kohler's view, and in that of the composers she coaxes out on stage, sex and death are two distinct acts, but their experience is intertwined.  "You can't have one without the other," Kohler says.
 
Directed by John-Richard Thompson, "Little Death's" musical ensemble of five includes music director Doug Oberhamer on piano (he and Tom Nazziola and Kohler are responsible for the arrangements), Sean Harkness on guitar, violinist Meg Okura, Scott Thornton on bass, and Dave Anthony on percussion. Thompson, Oberhamer and Nazziola are also taking Backstage Bistro honors for “Little Death” this year.

 
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