Germano’s Trattoria in Little Italy. Photo courtesy of Germano’s.
In the heart of Baltimore’s Little Italy sits Germano’s Trattoria, which is famous for their Tuscan and other regional Italian cooking. What makes Germano’s even more delicious is their Cabaret which features entertainers from the worlds of theatre, popular song, jazz, classical music, and opera.
With such a diverse selection of entertainment, there is something for everyone. For me, the hopeless (and still unmarried) romantic, I attended the cabaret entitled ‘Quirky Love Songs.’ For a delightful evening, David Morrocco performed love songs with a twist in which every song is a love song and every song has its own unique, quirky story.
One of my favorite stories of the evening was about the song “Edelweiss” from Sound of Music. In his story we learned that edelweiss is a beautiful white flower that grows high in the Alps in Austria. We also learned that “Edelweiss” was the last song that the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together.
Besides singing in his trained, classical voice, Morrocco also played with ease the piano, acoustic guitar, 12 string guitar, and accordion. He is such a strong musician and the room is so intimate that he did not need the wireless body microphone which was proving cumbersome on this evening. While the stories that preceded the songs were all very educational, for me, I would have preferred to hear more of his exquisite singing.
…Cabaret at Germano’s delivers the ultimate romantic experience.
A fun part of the cabaret was the sing-along. Everyone enjoyed singing songs made popular by Peter, Paul, and Mary like “Puff the Magic Dragon” and “If I Had a Hammer.” Guests were also rewarded with a white rose if they could answer trivia questions such as “Do you know who wrote Oliver Twist?”
David Morrocco in ‘Quirky Love Songs’ at Cabaret at Germano’s.
Every song is set up nicely. It is obvious that he put a lot of thought into his presentation.
To set up “Where is Love” from Oliver and “People” from Funny Girl he said, “In the musical, Oliver has just been sold to a nasty couple who are undertakers and they went out for the evening and left him in the basement all alone where he sings the song. One of the ‘twists’ to this song is that some people say the beautiful melody is wasted on such a young person.
The other song “People” was not a part of the original pre-Broadway staging and Barbra Streisand said this is a beautiful song and put her foot down, in a way that only Barbra Streisand can, and when they were in Boston, she sang “People” and brought the house down. So the question is “Where is Love” and the answer is, it’s with “People.””
The Cabaret at Germano’s is located in an intimate room on the upper floor of the restaurant. David Morrocco singing Italian love songs while playing the accordion is a real treat. Add to that the authentic Italian cuisine and Cabaret at Germano’s delivers the ultimate romantic experience.
For a list of future events, visit here.
Below is a video by MD Theatre Guide about David Morrocco’s performance at ENCORE in Ellicott City, MD.
