Singing Shrink Kat Rothe Performs at a “Spare Castle in Monaco” and Answers Six Questions

Vocalist Katharina Rothe lives a “double life.” The German-born performer studied music and theater at university, and then went on to become Katharina Rothe, Ph.D, working as a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst and psychosocial researcher. Her passion for the stage has been ongoing, and her latest outing is Come to the Katberet!, playing this Saturday, October 1 at Don’t Tell Mama. On this “special Monaco edition,” Prince Orlofsky, of Russo-Viennese fame, invites you to an exclusive party at his spare castle in Monaco.Here, Kat of the Beret will share secret moments of delight and despair, love, lust and loss through the music of W. Bolcom, W.A. Mozart, J. Strauss, R.P. Thomas, K. Weill and others. Rothe began her musical education as a child in Germany and continues to train with Judith Barnes from Vertical Player Repertory in Brooklyn.

 

With pianist-composer Richard Pearson Thomas on the keys, reservations for the 8 PM show of Come to the Katberet at Don’t Tell Mama can be made here.

 

 

NLE: Your new show, Come to the Katberet, features songs that originated in your native Germany, specifically from Berlin of the 1920s. When did you first become aware of the legacy of Kurt Weill, Marlene Dietrich and the history of cabaret in Weimar Berlin?

 

KR: For the first time I saw Marlene Dietrich as a child in the movie The Blue Angel and was fascinated by her cabaret performances, while also not really getting the whole erotic situation and feeling sorry for the professor who falls for her character Lola. I discovered Kurt Weill as a teenager through the Three Penny Opera by Brecht and Weill, finding myself really impressed by a stage performance I saw. It’s a timeless piece on capitalistic society, featuring beautiful music and going lots of dark places while also being quite comical.

 

NLE: Of your repertoire from that era, which is the song you feel most epitomizes this period?

 

KR: Oh, so many! Just to choose one that captures the special Weill feeling I’d say “Pirate Jenny” or “Surabaya Johnny”—oops, that’s two.

 

NLE: You not only studied music and theater at university, but also earned a PhD in clinical psychology, psychoanalysis and psychosocial research. As such, how do you deal with the darkness in the characters and music, such as in Three Penny Opera?

 

KR: I learn a lot from my clinical practice and my patients. It’s like with the music I love, you enter a lot of darkness and suffering of people, and then, you find a way through to the other side. A big part of that is humor, sometimes very dark humor and sometimes just the fun kind.

 

NLE: Love was a motivating factor in your move from Germany to the USA. What songs today about love most engage you, and why?

 

KR: There are many ways in which music engages with love in a meaningful way that engages me and that I love to engage with. It can be as much a heartfelt love song or aria; it can be a sad one, such as “Je ne t’aime pas,” a cynical piece about the darkness and absurdities of love or about the craziness that can come with it, especially when it comes to unbridled passion, such as “Lucy’s aria.”

 

NLE: Richard Pearson Thomas is not only your music director, but a composer-songwriter whose works you include in your show. How did you meet and connect in working together on this cabaret?

 

KR: We met through my amazing voice teacher Judith Barnes from Vertical Player Repertory in Brooklyn. Richard’s work has been very stimulating to me. He’s a great musician and composer of a wide range from contemporary classical music to cabaret songs. We share some dark humor and inspired each other putting together this new program.

 

NLE: You recently performed in Berlin. What was that like? How did audiences respond to your program? Was the experience a homecoming for you?

 

KR: Performing in Berlin was a wonderful experience in a very special setting on a boat on the river. In a way it did feel like a homecoming, as in the audience were very old friends whom I haven’t seen for more than a decade. Interestingly, the audiences respond slightly differently to my repertoire and the stories I tell of love, lust and loss…I feel New Yorkers respond more to the humor and silliness, Germans a bit more to the darkness. It sounds like a cliché, but this one has some truth to it.