It’s the end of the world as we know it — but you’ll feel fine at Christine Ebersole’s show at Onstage at Kingsborough!
The Tony Award-winning Broadway performer and former Saturday Night Live cast member — and current star of the TBS series “Sullivan & Son” — will be bringing her “End of the World as We Know It Cabaret” to Brooklyn next month as part of Onstage’s fall season.
Ebersole said the tone of the show — inspired by the end of the Mayan calendar on Dec. 21, 2012 and supposed apocalypse — isn’t as dire as the name might suggest.
“It’s taking it from the literal and turning it into a metaphor. Really there is no end,” Ebersole said. “The only thing we can hope for is our old limiting ways of viewing the world will end.”
Ebersole said she’ll tell stories throughout her performance, all of them relating back to the theme of the end of the world. But they won’t be tales of asteroids or atom bombs but of personal events, or “what seemed like the end of the world at the time,” as the singer and actress put it.
The show will also feature some of the most revelatory numbers from the Great American Songbook, including “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” “Go Down Moses,” “Strike Up the Band,” “Get Behind Me Satan,” and “I’ll Fly Away.”
Anna Becker, executive director of Onstage at Kingsborough, saw Ebersole do the show on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and knew she had to get her to perform in Brooklyn — a first for the stage veteran.
“We are bringing people who are really at the top of their game, and she really fits that description to a tee,” Becker said. “Our audiences are really thrilled by both Broadway material and a bit of nostalgia, and she brings both of those to the table.”
Christine Ebersole at Onstage at Kingsborough [2001 Oriental Blvd. between Perry and Decatur avenues in Manhattan Beach. (718) 368–5596, www.kbcc.cuny.edu/osk]. Oct. 13, 8 pm. $30.
