A TESTAMENT TO QUEER ART’S ENDURANCE

By Sophie Clark | Muck Rack Portfolio | Press Invite

Hersch Dagmarr may leave you in doubt about his spectral origins or his age (is he 20 or 120?) but one thing that is never in doubt is his magnificent voice.

Dagmarr had the audience at the Crazy Coqs in awe of his staggering vocals throughout his 75 minute performance of Dagmarr’s Dimanche as a Weimar-era cabaret singer.

Performing a mix of classics and his own creations in French and English, Dagmarr had us wide-eyed at his French musicality and laughing out loud at his passionate tribute to his dentist.

He is a real artist when it comes to embracing historical art and modern sentiments, and his act touched upon every genre and diva from Piaf to Kylie.

I also loved the quirky interlude from clown act Enrico Touché. As a total sucker for physical comedy, I was doubled over at his ‘magic’ show, and thought it was the perfect sweet treat to compliment Dagmarr’s more sincere approach to cabaret.

My only critique of the show is that Dagmarr’s stage persona still felt a little half baked. His comedy songs were funny, but French-native Dagmarr’s spoken joke delivery in English felt forced, as if did not hold the same amount of confidence in his spoken jokes as he did in his songs.

He builds his Weimar act around the idea that he and his pianist are actually vampires who were around during pre-war Germany, but he does not really commit to the bit, and seemed to falter when he was not getting the laughs he wanted.

Cabaret is about being big and bold, and when you’re running with such a specific bit, you have to lean all the way in. His voice was the star of the show, as it should be, but I hope either fully leans into the vampire jokes, or decides to cut them so that the show feels more polished.

That said, his tribute to the enduring nature of LGBTQ+ arts at the end was truly moving.

I was wondering if he was going to address the specific foreboding feeling in the room of going to a cabaret show in a year of rising xenophobia and anti-queer sentiment, and Dagmarr spoke beautifully about how his act shows that people can try their very best to kill off, literally, queer performers and artists, but they never will.

Whether carried by vampires or the next generation of humans, art will endure through the ages.

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Photo Credit: Ian Archer