Looking for last-minute weekend plans? Look no further than the limited-time cabaret performance The Wild Stage: Tantalized. For this weekend only, this performance set in 1920s Berlin comes to Pittsburgh’s 565 Live and Little Giant Studio! This is going to be a uniquely authentic and immersive experience from the venues, to the entertainment, right down to the specialty cocktails. Let us tell you more!
The Wild Stage: Tantalized is a one-woman show that will captivate you not only with the musical numbers but make you laugh and even teach you a little German while incorporating audience interaction! Brady Collins, artistic director, and Matthew Lorenz, music director, have truly put together a show you will not want to miss. Lorenz has been working with Collins and The Wild Stage since the beginning. As a pianist performing across the US from New Mexico to North Dakota, and internationally in Paris, Lorenz brings his talents back to the Burgh for another Collins/Lorenz collaboration, The Wild Stage: Tantalized.
Select performances of this weekend’s show will feature special guest appearances by Nicole Lennartz, violinist, and Sienna Dalessandro, mezzo cover. Dalessandro is no stranger to The Wild Stage as she was involved in last summer’s performance, The Wild Stage: A Cabaret For The Working Class. We are excited to see her involved again in this year’s show as a featured singer.
Lennartz, however, is making her debut with The Wild Stage! As a violinist and CEO of Radiant Strings, an event-based string ensemble, Lennartz brings over 2 decades of experience and talent to the stage. In her younger years, Lennartz belonged to the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony where she performed at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, The Mozartedum in Saltzburg, and the Slovak Radio Hall in Bratislava, Slovakia. Come and see her work for yourself at Friday night’s show!
Now, let us discuss the woman who made it all possible, Brady Collins! This is a woman of MANY talents. Working in the industry as a classical, jazz, and cabaret vocalist, stage director, and producer, Collins has had incredible opportunities and flourished. As the owner and artistic director of The Wild Stage, Collins has been creating and performing shows for years.
The inspiration for her Berlin-themed shows came in 2020 when Collins received an Advanced Research Fellowship from Roosevelt University in Chicago. This fellowship centered around researching literary Kabaretts of Weimar Germany. Since then, Collins has merged her musicological work with performance and outreach. In fact, The Wild Stage: Tantalized will include three never-before-heard English translations of German Cabaret songs! There will also be a brand new song premiered, so get excited to hum along.
Some of the songs of the show are I Am A Vamp, Life’s A Swindle, and Johnny. These songs are actually part of what inspired the specialty cocktail menu for the performance. Cocktails featured on the special event menu include The Swindler, Berlin Baby, and others. While the cocktail names are themed to the evening, you’ll recognize they are named after classic drinks like the Bees Knees, a popular drink in 1920s Berlin. Other drinks will also be available for purchase in this speakeasy-style bar.
Speaking of cocktails, Cait Humienny of the Instagram account @CocktailsWithCait describes the cocktail menu she curated for 565 Live in honor of the special event:
“We took inspiration from the time period and the location. The show is meant to transport guests back to 1920s Berlin. From what I understand, it was much like the U.S. ‘Great Gatsby’ style parties we think of, with some similar popular cocktails, although they didn’t have to worry about prohibition! There was a vibrant nightlife in Berlin with artists, intellectuals, and innovators flocking to nightclubs and cabarets so we wanted to bring some of the same cocktails they would have been drinking back then to the 565 to make it an even more immersive show.”
Get tickets for this limited-time immersive cabaret show by visiting their ticketing site. Tickets are $25 for each of the shows. Friday night’s performance and Sunday’s matinee will be hosted at 565 Live, and Saturday night’s performance will be held at Little Giant Studio. Grab your crew and prepare to be whisked away to 1920s Berlin with The Wild Stage: Tantalized.
This content was provided by a local, independent contributor to Made in PGH, a lifestyle blog.