She’s singing an ode to the F!
A Dumbo singer and restaurant owner will perform a cabaret show dedicated to the subway on Aug. 4, in the Archway beneath the Manhattan Bridge. The performer says that the F train, which will rumble overhead during the performance, is a metaphor of the various paths taken in life.
“When I say my show is an ode to the train, it’s really an ode to being transported through life — the train at large, where you’re going, how you’re going to get there,” said singer Tanya Rynd, who is also the owner of the restaurant Superfine.
Rynd’s performance under the bridge will be under her stage name Madame T, singing with her eight-piece band the Starlights. The group will play an array of “whistle-blowing train songs” selected from different genres, including 1940s jazz, 1950s swing, and country tunes — all songs that remind Rynd of the train, either literally or metaphorically.
“Once you start hearing the train in the music you see that it is utilized as a metaphor in so many songs,” said Rynd.
The ambitious show will also feature a dance performance from the Superfine Dinettes, a track built across the stage, and a video projection of an oncoming train. Rynd hopes the resulting show will combine all the elements to create the feel of the subway car’s journey.
“To be able to integrate the visual arts and the music and the performative … it’s like being a great collage artist,” she said.
The show is part of the Live At the Archway concert series, which offers a free smorgasbord of singers, songwriters and dancers every Thursday night during the summer. Rynd created the series in 2015 with Clara Schuhmacher, of the Dumbo Business Improvement District, and she says that running the event has increased her connection to the unique space.
“I feel that being in the archway has deepened my relationship to the constant presence of the train,” she said. “The sound of Dumbo is the constant roar of the train.”
As she developed her theory of the train representing of personal journeys, she decided it was time to take to the stage and share the insight with her fellow Brooklynites. She hopes the audience will share her enthusiasm for the journey.
“I hope that everyone gets a ticket to be transported and delivered,” said Rynd.
“Madame T and the Starlights” at Archway under the Manhattan Bridge [Water Street between Adams Street and Anchorage Place in Dumbo, (718) 237–8700, www.dumbo.is/live-at- the-archway]. Aug. 4 at 6 pm. Free.
