Innovative BAM performance pays tribute to L.A. in Brooklyn
Chronicling one’s hometown in a meaningful way is serious business. Despite peppering his performance with one-liners that caused the audience to titter at intervals, Gabriel Kahane delivered a sober, self-reflective performance as he paid homage to his native Los Angeles at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) last week.
Kahane’s new album, “The Ambassador,” uses 10 L.A. addresses to tell stories about the town from the perspective of characters who were, or might have been, at those places. A mixture of music and theater, the show never completely becomes either, fluidly moving from one place in the city’s recollection to another. The most memorable stops on this ethereal musical tour are the Empire Liquor Mart, where a young black girl was shot to death in 1991, and the Ambassador Hotel, where Kahane and his onstage acolytes wistfully reminisce about a place where the good times rolled for everyone, from Hollywood icons to mid-afternoon rummies.
The theatrical portion of the show, which was commissioned by BAM, was fashioned by a pair of Tony Award winners: John Tiffany staged the act and Christine Jones designed its very elaborate set. Tall stacks of books, along audio visual devices and other objects of the sort that might be found in shops along J.K. Rowling’s mythical Diagon Alley, create a sort of cityscape of literary detritus, forming the backdrop for a relaxed cast of musicians. Sometimes sitting, sometimes lying on the floor, staring pensively at the rafters, Kahane’s backups bend the focus of the audience toward their leader, silently insisting with their pious intensity that his rituals be revered.