This is what the cabaret is about: Bambi's extraordinary story of survival is told in song and sketch, her background echoed in familiar tunes, her inspirations gently mocked through canny impersonation. With Pieter-Dirk Uys as Bambi and with music arranged by Godfrey Johnson and performed by Bambi's Bokkie Band, F.A.K. Songs and Other Struggle Anthems is performed in three languages. The band, led by Johnson on piano, consists of Heather Roth on flute and sax, Rayelle Goodman on violin, Mac McKenzie on guitar and Hilton Schilder on percussion.
Bambi's story is told in English, while the songs also include some in German and some in Afrikaans. This cabaret is not for the faint-hearted. It unites the acrid stench of the old Weimar Republic of the 1930s and the sexy rot of Hamburg's Reeperbahn with the familiar aromas associated with ons eie Voortrekker camps and braaivleis orgies.
Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout will not be on stage with Bambi. The two sisters are sworn enemies and have never been seen in the same place at the same time. And for good reason. Whereas Evita is proper in all aspects, Bambi is not. The former stripper/sex worker now runs her internationally known wine cellar in Paarl, with "special offers" at weekends, plus condoms.
With her Nazi husband's ashes in an urn on the piano, Bambi sings about love and confides about life. Not for the squeamish or the proper, this cabaret features songs by Kurt Weill and Stephen Sondheim, as well as a selection of familiar Afrikaans liedjies from the legendary FAK Sangbundel, a songbook of the federation of Afrikaans Cultural Organisations, reinvented by Bambi to suit the mood of 2010.
FAK Songs and Other Struggle Anthems runs at The Fugard Theatre in Caledon Street, off lower Buitenkant Street, from Tuesdays to Fridays at 8pm and on Saturdays at 5pm and 8pm, from 31 August to 18 September 2010. Tickets cost from R90 to R120 via +27 (0)21 461 4554. Please note all seating is unreserved and the show has a PG10 rating. Dinner with a special Bambi Kabaret menu, before or after the show, is available at 6 Spin Street restaurant with bookings and enquiries via + 27 (0)21 421 0666 or az.oc.teertsnips6@snoitavreser. www.thefugard.com
