This past Wednesday, Queens College Theater Guild was privileged to bring the acclaimed actress Emily Bergl to Queens College. She has performed in various films, most notably “The Rage: Carrie 2”, performed in the Broadway play “The Lion in Winter”, appeared in various TV shows including “Gilmore Girls” and “Desperate Housewives”, and has recently begun performing cabaret. During her appearance, she performed two cabaret pieces. The first one, whose name I forget, was a slow, pained song of a young girl, while the second piece was an original song she and her piano accompanist Jonathan Mastro are working on. I enjoyed both pieces very much. It was quickly apparent to me that Emily is an actress. She is excellent not only at singing, but also personifying the character who is singing the song, such as the pained girl of the first song who is angry at the world. In the Q&A session after her performance, Emily told us that when she performs a commonly-performed piece, she thinks about it constantly, listens to all the different versions of the song, reviews the lyrics, and injects her own perspective into the pieces she sings. Much of modern art is this idea of an artist putting his or her perspective into their work, which is key in creating good art. Emily is an excellent example of this.
.
It is very interesting to contemplate the personal stamp that a performer brings to material that they did not create. This is distinct from the singer/songwriter who is basically inseparable from the material. It brings into question whether the material can survive apart from the artist/performer (in the case of the singer/songwriter) and if the artist has something fresh and interesting to bring to established material (in the case of the performer of familiar material.) Glad you had the chance to see this event.