By Marilyn Lester***At first glance you might casually peg Artemisia LeFay as a “Goth Girl,” but that assumption would be stunningly superficial. Her look is unique, but so is this special talent. She self-identifies as a “Cabaret Resurrectionist, Mezzo Soprano, Songwriter,” as well as a chanteuse, and these are indeed the 
engines that drive her creativity. Her attraction has been to the Weimar Era in 1920s Germany. She’s devoted two shows to this singular time: Ghosts of Weimar Past and Phantoms of the Cabaret. The attraction? Who knows why we choose what we do? Perhaps she’s the reincarnation of Sally Bowles. But no matter, the pull of this particular decade in 20th century history, is fueled by LeFay’s passion and delivered to today’s audiences as a touchstone of visionary artistry. With Wasted Girl, LeFay has taken a further step up on the ladder of her musical journey.
Wasted Girl features her original compositions—words and music—and the result is pretty darn terrific. The music is engagingly melodic and the lyrics are literate, smart and clever—of the quality of many of the Americ
an Songbook masters. During the program at Don’t Tell Mama, LeFay was accompanied on piano by her mother, Renée Guerrero and violinist Khullip Jeung, both outstanding musicians. Adding a string component to the presentation was an artistic bonus, providing the capacity to match mood and add varying textures to the compositions. An instrumental prelude, “Ballad of the Unmarked Grave,” hauntingly set the stage for what was to follow. Guererro also played an interlude during the set: “Trepidation Rag,” also by LeFay, and as remarkable as any of the Scott Joplin canon.
On the vocal opener, “Wasted Girl,” LeFay sang in duet with Hannah Mount, a dynamic talent who deserves to go far. Mount also soloed on “Ballad of the Scopophile,” with an energetic red hot mama fling of a feather boa in the direction 
of Sophie Tucker. LeFay herself is no slouch at drama. Her presentations have been consistently theatrical, and as it turns out, she revealed that the intention of these tunes is to further Phantoms of the Cabaret into a new musical creation. And like Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret, whose source material traces back to writer Christopher Isherwood’s tales of Weimar Berlin, LeFay is also a historian. Her “Ballad of Anita and Sebastian” is based on actress-dancer-writer Anita Berber, a scandalous exotic, and her dancer lover Sebastian Droste.
Death may be eternal, but so is love,” declared LeFay, and to this proposition, her witty “Coffin Built for Two” might have contained the intertwined bodies of Laura and Tibby, characters who drown together in D.H. Lawrence’s Women in Love. Closer, “Phantoms of the Cabaret” was also the starting point: LeFay began writing it at the begining of the COVID-19 lockdown 
(when so many creatives were propelled into action). This melodic composition with it’s engaging coda was no doubt inspired by Phantom of the Opera, but is all LeFay. Her encore, “Something Wondrous and New” was a particularly fine capper; in finding their own creative paths, many musicians will acknowledge they stand on the shoulders of those who came before. In this instance, the spirit of Irving Berlin was no doubt watching over LeFay with pride.
Photos by Andrew Poretz
