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.