The fictional duo of Otto (Daniel Tobias) and Astrid (Clare Bartholomew) Rot shook up this downtown theatre like a five-year-old child given her first drum set. The pair pompously referred to themselves as a band and, to the delight of the audience, proved it by surprising us with a vast array of instruments: from the cow bell to varied small plastic keyboards and a rather unwieldy drum set, presided over by the larger-than-life wild child, Astrid. Brother and sister shared a tragic story of loss and redemption, due to the early deaths of their parents by a train or lion (each having a differing memory) attack, in the melodramatic punk rondo, “The 4:15 to Spandau Will Not Run Today.”

This very funny and just mildly dark satire was delivered up by the severely damaged pair. Astrid may actually be the female heir to John Belushi. With her wicked grin and outrageous risk-taking, she was always a couple of steps ahead of the audience, apparently improvising with them and cavorting naughtily (chugging spiked vitamin water) behind her serious, clean-living, vegan brother. Otto believes that, through talk therapy and various pop cultish healing processes, the siblings will be able to communicate and fulfill the contract that requires Astrid to curtail her destructive behavior.

Will they be able to accomplish this mission? The earnest, lipstick-wearing, androgynous Otto is out to reform his sister by convincing the audience to shout out (with the help of flash cards) "Mineral Wasser" and "Te" during her rousing performance of “Astrid’s Drinking Song."

This cabaret is not for folks who are expecting the American Song Book or something of a refined nature. It is a hilarious send-up of the early Punk Rock era and some of its self-indulgent immaturity. I liked it – a lot.

Melody Breyer-Grell
Cabaret Scenes
June 23, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org