Cabaret Scenes Review

If one wished to distinguish between a good entertainer and a genuine artist, Sanda Weigl would fall into the latter category. She sings songs with passion and intensity and can switch moods to convey many emotions. “Bilbao” was delivered with cynicism and harshness. In “Pirate Jenny” there was anger in the verses and yearning in the refrain as she imagined the ship in the harbor that would rescue her from drudgery; “September Song” conveyed melancholy as the seasons moved from spring to winter; and “I Am a Stranger Here Myself” was delivered with a lighter touch, even some whimsy. Some traditional Romanian songs, one of them sung a capella, demonstrated the range of her voice and its finely tuned vocal quality. Weigl’s looks were equally changeable, almost chameleon-like. The petite singer could seem impish or elfin-like, evoking images of the French sparrow. When angry or harsh, she seemed plain, but when her mood softened, she was pretty.

With all this to recommend the show, it is unfortunate that this reviewer walked away shaking her head in dismay. For I had caught, in the English lyrics and in the brief patter introducing the songs, about one in ten words. There might have been many reasons for this, including the less-than-perfect sound system in the Cafe, but the most obvious and most important one is that Sanda Weigl eats the mic. In fact, the only way she could get it closer to her mouth would be to insert it in her mouth. This unfortunate tendency among recent performers seems to have its roots in the popularity of rock musicians, for whom words do not matter, amplification and rhythmic beat trumping any clarity. In fact, Sanda has a rock band background and she has apparently not fully realized that the essence of cabaret involves communication with the audience. What would be very useful would be for Sanda Weigl to sit down with a sound engineer and be instructed about what happens to the clarity of diction when there is no space between mouth and mic. She will have to decide just how important being understood is to her.

Meanwhile, the piano accompaniment of Shoko Nagai was frequently haunting and magical!

Barbara Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
October 7, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org



	Sanda Weigl Café Sabarsky New York, NY
If one wished to distinguish between a good entertainer and a genuine artist, Sanda Weigl would fall into the latter category. She sings songs with passion and intensity and can switch moods to convey many emotions. “Bilbao” was delivered with cynicism and harshness. In “Pirate Jenny” there was anger in the verses and yearning in the refrain as she imagined the ship in the harbor that would rescue her from drudgery; “September Song” conveyed melancholy as the seasons moved from spring to winter; and “I Am a Stranger Here Myself” was delivered with a lighter touch, even some whimsy. Some traditional Romanian songs, one of them sung a capella, demonstrated the range of her voice and its finely tuned vocal quality. Weigl’s looks were equally changeable, almost chameleon-like. The petite singer could seem impish or elfin-like, evoking images of the French sparrow. When angry or harsh, she seemed plain, but when her mood softened, she was pretty. With all this to recommend the show, it is unfortunate that this reviewer walked away shaking her head in dismay. For I had caught, in the English lyrics and in the brief patter introducing the songs, about one in ten words. There might have been many reasons for this, including the less-than-perfect sound system in the Cafe, but the most obvious and most important one is that Sanda Weigl eats the mic. In fact, the only way she could get it closer to her mouth would be to insert it in her mouth. This unfortunate tendency among recent performers seems to have its roots in the popularity of rock musicians, for whom words do not matter, amplification and rhythmic beat trumping any clarity. In fact, Sanda has a rock band background and she has apparently not fully realized that the essence of cabaret involves communication with the audience. What would be very useful would be for Sanda Weigl to sit down with a sound engineer and be instructed about what happens to the clarity of diction when there is no space between mouth and mic. She will have to decide just how important being understood is to her. Meanwhile, the piano accompaniment of Shoko Nagai was frequently haunting and magical! Barbara Leavy Cabaret Scenes October 7, 2010 www.cabaretscenes.org

Sanda Weigl

Café Sabarsky New York, NY

Café Sabarsky
New York, NY