Only Love Knows Love
An Intimate Salon Of Theatre Songs
The lovely and soulful chanteuse Onalea Gilbertson and the intrepid composer and passionate pianist David Rhymer team up to perform a gallery of songs from his 30 years of theatrical composition.
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Recorded at the Sunset Theatre (circa 1934) in Wells, BC - summer of 2011
David Rhymer
"His highly original arrhythmic songs play on the frontier between the recognizable and the strange."
- Edmonton Journal
"…virtually unclassifiable - a mesmerizing lyricism underlies his music."
-Vancouver Georgia Straight
A multi-award winning writer and composer, David Rhymer has written composed or co-created numerous successful Canadian stage works that have toured both nationally and internationally.
His musical work would not be considered traditional by any stretch. Rather they are strange pastiches integrating text and music in novel ways. They include: An Instructive, Amorous And Amusing Evening (including songs, scenes and interludes) or Why Freud Fainted, a 17th Century erotic droll called Bawdy, a female cross dressing runway cabaret Trouser Parts and Wreck Beach, a musical expose on Vancouver's infamous clothing optional beach. Other works include- with Ghost River Theatre, the 'war on terror' musical X-Ray, and An Eye for an Eye, the saga of eco-terrorist and fundamentalist preacher, Weibo Ludwig - and the notorious Ilsa Queen of the Nazi Love Camp and Dream Machine, an impressionistic oratorio on the Beat Generation, with the internationally acclaimed One Yellow Rabbit Ensemble.
In 2007 he was honored with the Greg Bond Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre in Calgary.
Audience Quotes
What a fabulous evening! I was struck by how beautiful this evening of music and story engaged us all-like they were telling us the stories we would be passing on to others. It had that kind of urgency and beauty. Onalea's interpretations were altogether mesmerizing. What a gift! - Kathleen Duborg Artistic Associate, Gateway Theatre
I believe David Rhymer to be musical magician, the songs being so theatrical, coming from theatrical contexts, once removed, carry an echo or ghosts of where they came from, which made them resonate on so many levels. And Onalea Gilbertson is a real showwoman. The night felt like a true salon performance. Moving and engaging with moments of utter beauty, power and grit. I loved it. An intimate, rare occasion I will not soon forget. -
Maiko Yamamoto Co-Artistic Director Theatre Replacement
ACT ONE The Mata Hari Suite
THE TEMPLE OF LOVE
– from mata hari-tigress at the city gate: lyrics blake brooker
THE TRAIN TO BERLIN
from mata hari-tigress at the city gate: lyrics blake brooker
WHIP ME HIGH WHIP ME LOW
– from mata hari-tigress at the city gate: lyrics david rhymer
LONELINESS
– from mata hari-tigress at the city gate: lyrics blake brooker
AT HELL'S GATE
– from mata hari-tigress at the city gate: lyrics david rhymer
ACT TWO
SONG OF FRATINIZATION
- from mother courage: lyrics bertolt brecht
SEEKING HIM
- from why freud fainted: lyrics david rhymer
ONLY LOVE KNOWS LOVE
- from why freud fainted: lyrics david rhymer
RADIANT NOON BRILLIANT OXYGEN
–from wreck beach: lyrics david rhymer
SURROUNDED BY CHROME
- from dream machine: lyrics blake brooker
THE SPIDER SONG
– from club stiletto: lyrics david rhymer
I LOVE SOMEBODY
- from bawdy: lyrics anonymous
DO YOU MEAN TO OVERTHROW ME
- from bawdy: lyrics anonymous
AND THE WATERS CAME TUMBLING DOWN
- from this little piggy: music/lyrics david rhymer
GOING INSIDE
-from dream machine: lyrics blake brooker
chanteuse - onalea gilbertson
music - david rhymer