“No, not again,” I thought, as Karen Kohler began her set at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency with “La vie en rose.” But, by the end of her offerings, and well before, I was enchanted.

Her range, both vocally and expressively, is enormous. Singing in multiple languages—English, French and her native German—with flawless pitch, diction and phrasing, her songs come mainly from the Weimar and contemporary periods. She informs each narrative character with a life of his/her own.

Aided by her talented and sensitive backup musicians, Doug Oberhammer (piano) and Greg Chudzik (bass), the evening grew in intimacy and warmth. Ms. Kohler invests old classics, such as “Falling in Love Again,” with new pathos, but recognizes also the humor in irreverent parodies, like the “Ten Commandments of Cabaret Life,” including “Arrive late” (no one did) and “Read the wine list exuberantly.” No one did that either.

In honor of the season, she sang a few Christmas songs, some with wicked twists, including Frederick Silver’s parody of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” in which the narrator burns down the tree and the seven swans all drown. Jason Robert Brown’s “Surabaya Santa” portrays an unfaithful Santa Claus, who leaves the North Pole every year while an out-of-sorts Mrs. Claus remains behind with the elves.

There is something highly humane and likeable about the stunning Ms. Kohler, who reaches out to the audience in a most appealing way.  She was soon to be off to India for a fellowship at the Center for Culture and Consciousness in New Delhi.

Elaine Baruch
Cabaret Scenes
December 14, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org