Artemisia LeFay on Weimar-Era Cabaret, Its Relevance, and Her New Show "It's All a Swindle"

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Her new show, IT'S ALL A SWINDLE, plays 6/16 at Don't Tell Mama and 10/8 at the Laurie Beechman in NYC

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Tomorrow June 16 at 7 p.m., Artemisia LeFay will premiere her new show , IT'S ALL A SWINDLE (ALLES SCHWINDEL) at Don't Tell Mama. The performance will feature LeFay returning to repertoire of the Weimar Republic, joined by double bassist Clayton Thompson and pianist Renée Guerrero. She’ll be doing an encore performance October 8th at 7pm, at the Laurie Beechman Theater on 42nd Street .

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Read a conversation with LeFay about the show.

How have you been feeling lately, about the role of music in America's current political climate?

Wow, this slew of questions really began with a heavy hitter!

I think these past two years particularly of 2010's and 2020's have some very chilling and stark parallels to other fascist periods of history, particularly in Europe, particularly in the 20th century. I love reading books about history, but it doesn't even take a cursory glance at it to see that we have, without a doubt, descended into fascism-- and for those that disagree with me, I am 100% ready to defend that point of truth.

There are several things that I think about, when you ask me the role of music in America's political climate.

Firstly, there have always been artists and musicians creating commentary about things going on. In the interwar and WWII years, you have Otto Dix in 1933 depicting Hitler as a petulant child in his Seven Deadly Sins painting. You have Lotte Lenya and Bertolt Brecht broadcasting a song into Europe about a Nazi soldier going to each European city he conquers and sending a souvenir to his delighted wife. You have Marlene Dietrich completely abandoning Germany when they ask her to do propaganda performances for the Nazi Party. So why shouldn't we use the things that come so naturally to us as a way to reach people and protest injustice?

I also want to say that cabaret was an important tool of survival, too. Not only did you have people doing cabarets for each other in concentration camps, but the folks that did survive immediately went to putting on productions of the Threepenny Opera in buildings bombed by Allied troops. Our voices are something that both help us to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and create the light at the end of the tunnel.

In the present day, we can take a leaf out of the books of these amazing, amazing people. It's quite nice, and certainly very comforting to see that survival is possible, and these shades of the past are right by us, holding our hands and whispering to us that truth will always prevail.

We really do have power! And we need to make those that are holding power over us as uncomfortable as possible with this amazing ability to create art, no matter what resources we have or don't have.

I think that this is part of the reason that so much censorship and streamlining is being pushed upon us. Maybe there is fear of a message rising up amongst the working class people, and isn't music one of the fastest ways for that to spread around? Even now, as I type these answers, there is AI trying to take away my choices in writing, because even the tiniest change in whichever way you arrange your words holds enormous sway over their emotional impact. I love words, and I will never let anyone take away my relationship with them.

On a personal note, I do want to say that I am not doing alright. There are times where I break down after hearing something in the news, after weeks of "keeping it together. I suppose that I do bottle up quite a bit, but I am grateful for the catharsis of cabaret, and to get to sing with and for people who hold that fire in their hearts as I do.

As a songwriter yourself, can you talk about how your writing has been inspired by current events?

I have been coming out of a two-year hiatus of writing songs, but I must say that this year, the songs are coming out like nothing before... there is something about the inspiration that comes from marrying my thoughts about current politics with the musical stylizations of vintage cabaret traditions that is so deliciously enflaming. In this new show, "Alles Schwindel", for example, I have a song that illustrates the impact of ICE on people through a couple in 1940s Czechoslovakia. Within it, the Brecht quote I explore through the show's theme is directly referenced in another original called "Will People Still Be Singing?" (the quote goes "In dark times, will people be singing? Yes-- they will be singing-- about those dark times."

I do want to warn people going to the show that though there are lots of rousing, inspiring, and bawdy songs, there will also be many dark things we will travel through together within its journey.

What keeps you coming back to the music of Weimar-era Germany?

Even though I get asked this question a lot, I still can't find a definite answer. I suppose that I feel very at home in it, like there is an unresolved memory I haven't gotten closure about. I suspect I had a past life in 1920s and 30s Berlin that I need to let people today experience through my performance.

Is there any aspect of this show you're particularly excited about?

Well, of course I get to work with some musicians I deeply admire! The pianist, Renee Guerrero is someone I naturally have very organic rapport with, and not just because she is my mother! She has taken time out of her busy schedule developing shows about Kay Swift & George Gershwin /Chopin & Mompou, and recording CDs of classical music, to add her refinement to this very strange and upsetting music at our beloved Don't Tell Mama. The double bassist is my partner, Clayton James Thompson , and he's an absolutely brilliant rock and jazz musician, just able to improvise exactly what each song needs to elevate it. We actually met at an open mic night where he insisted on playing double bass for a 1925 Berlin cabaret song I was performing that night, so I think that this era of music was responsible for bringing us together, too. Thank you, Friedrich Hollaender!

I'm extremely excited for the show's entity as a whole. I think that performing the songs is taking me into the deepest depths of what cabaret means for my psyche. A lot of people treat is as something trite, something that bored actors do when they don't have anything else to perform, but there is a real ability to arrange the symbols and archetypes of a given set of songs in such a way that brings out something you didn't know about yourself (whether you are performer or audience member). It reminds of the discovery your deepest brain makes when contemplating the previously unconnected themes within the layout of tarot cards.

What have you been doing with your time lately, other than getting ready for this show?

I bellydance a lot! I've been training in this style of dance for over ten years, and it is a great joy for me. It is like being hired to be "the vibe" of a place, and to help transport people away from their worries by getting up and letting loose with a professional glittery person. I dance at quite a few West Asian/North African restaurants all over Manhattan, and I post about the whereabouts and whenabouts of my gigs on my personal and bellydancing instagrams, @artemisialefay, and @artemisia_bellydance_nyc. Other than that, a lot of songwriting, hustling, and trying to finish apartment decor projects!

Do you have any other projects you'd like to share with us?

I am trying to put my first album of original dark cabaret music, Wasted Girl , onto Soundcloud and Bandcamp for anyone to listen to! Not Spotify, though. They're awful to the artists they stream, push the AI censorship agenda, and fund war technology.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

We're doing "Alles Schwindel" in October, too!!! October 8th at 7pm, at the Laurie Beechman Theater on 42nd Street.

Header photo credit: Conor Weiss

Learn where to follow the artist online at www.artemisialefay.com

Tickets to the June 16 show are available on Don't Tell Mama's website here .

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/cabaret/article/Interview-Artemisia-LeFay-Returns-to-the-Weimar-Era-at-Dont-Tell-Mama-20260615)._