Bambi Kellermann in Kabaret

ABOUT

     With Pieter-Dirk Uys as 'Bambi Kellermann' and Godfrey Johnson at the piano.

“Street-fighter in Bambi to the fore ...doesn't let the truth get in the way of a good story ... a  

           wicked edge. She's certainly not above corruption and, like her sister, has little sympathy for 

           sacred cows.” - The Argus

Bambi Kellermann is the younger sister of Mrs Evita Bezuidenhout, still the 'most famous white woman in South Africa'. Chalk and cheese. Whereas Evita has become a household name and favourite across political-party lines, Bambi smoulders in the background – not yet as famous as her sister, but far more dangerous.

“An uncanny sampling of the tunes reflects a disturbing and disturbed self that Bambi is   coming to terms with ... her performance is reminiscent of the halycon days of Berlin cabaret.” -  Cape Times

She left Bethlehem in South Africa's Orange Free State in 1956 and went to Europe where she eventually married Joachim von Kellermann, a notorious Nazi survivor of the Second World War. In order to hide him from arrest, she took whatever job she could, in many cases verging on the pornographic. Eventually they reached Paraguay where von Kellermann found old SS friends. He became Minister of War. He has since died. 

“A very clever cross-over between stand-up comedy and cabaret ... interwoven with her hilarious distortion of popular boere-liedjies, Bambi's lasting effect to the make strange the known. Seductive, very crude and spot on, Bambi is a mind-blast!” - Sunday Times

Bambi is back in the democratic South Africa. She runs a wine-tasting cellar in Paarl, sometimes referred to as nothing more than an excuse for a high-class brothel. It is known that she is HIV-positive. But with money and knowledge, she can live with her virus, as she did with her terrible secrets.

“Bambi's a bit of a diva now, part Patti Labelle, part Marlene Dietrich, confident enough to try her hand at musical experimentation, with delightful results....you'll love Bambi.” - The

              Weekly Mail

She sings – well, she has been inspired to sing by many who also could not sing, but became famous for their singing: Marlene Dietrich, Hildgarde Knef and Zarah Leander to name the German ones. She loves the music of Kurt Weill and Stephen Sondheim. And being an Afrikaner meisie at heart, finds any excuse to sing her favourite boere liedjies out of the FAK Sangbundel. But with a sinister twist.

           “Dis nou Kabaret!” -  Die Burger

This is what her Kabaret is about: her extraordinary story of survival told in song, her background echoed in familiar tunes, her inspirations gently mocked through canny impersonation. The cabaret, with music arranged and played by Godfrey Johnson, is in three languages. Her story is told in English, while the songs also include some in German and some in Afrikaans. 

 “Bambi ... a Marlene Dietrich clone from hell, a very dark Blue Angel, part Euro-slut, part             boer and part lush.” -  Cape Times

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 Reperbahn with the familiar aromas associated with 'ons eie' Voortrekker-camps and rugby braaivleis-orgies.

           “Bambi, 'n dronklap-tert met meer myle op as 'n 1971 Mustang, 'n gehawende Kabaret-ster           met 'n Dietrich-fiksasie.” -  Die Burger

DIRECTIONS