The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, with over 3,700 shows. This year, Playbill is in town for the festival and we’re taking you with us. Follow along as we cover every single aspect of the Fringe, aka our real-life Brigadoon!
“And, I’m singing,” Salty Brine stage-whispers spiritedly, waving a bubble gun. “In the shower!” Bubbles burst forth, shimmering in the cabaret lights. The audience reacts audibly. We’re tickled, delighted, and utterly, fantastically entertained.
These are the Contents of My Head (The Annie Lennox Show) is a tour de force of artistry. Salty Brine, a New York-based cabaret performer, is the dynamic wit behind The Living Record Collection, a show that reimagines popular albums, intertwining them with cultural or personal moments of significance to Brine. The contents of Brine’s show, his first at the Fringe, are music from Lennox’s solo album Diva in the style of Judy Garland’s supreme Carnegie Hall performance, interwoven with a complete retelling of Kate Chopin’s seminal novel The Awakening, all in the style of cabaret with the soul of drag performance. It’s Judy does Annie about Kate, seasoned with a sprinkle of salt. And it’s tremendous.
As if Brine didn’t have enough material at his fingertips, the show also incorporates stories of his childhood, particularly his relationship with his mother in the wake of his parents’ divorce. The result is a breathtaking tapestry, unfurled with love, admiration, and gratitude. Brine is a masterful performer. Just when he has your cheeks sore from smiling, you begin to feel the tears. There is no stage I’d imagine he cannot command with voice alone.
Brine is as powerful a vocal performer as he is a storyteller. Despite holding four separate strands of inspiration over the course of a 90 minute performance, there are no knots, no threads left dangling. How remarkable to enter a cabaret space expecting to hear a campy staging of a pop album, and leave with such a complete and tender understanding of how four women (and their art) raised one gay man.
Salty Brine shared with Playbill why he feels more connected to his mother now than ever, who is inspiring him right now, and what he thinks his younger self would think of this semi-autobiographical work.
How long have you been working on These are the Contents of My Head (The Annie Lennox Show)?
Salty Brine: We performed the very first iteration of These are the Contents… in 2015 in New York. Since then, I've occasionally come back to it, revised it, played with it, and understood it better and better. I started rewrites for the version here at Edinburgh Fringe this past January. My team and I have been working on it steadily since then to get it ready for all of you!
How has your relationship to the works of art you reference in the show evolved as you’ve developed and performed this piece?
In the show, I tell the story of an entire novel called The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Every time I come back to this show I reread the novel. And my understanding of it deepens each time. The most powerful discovery this time around was a deep connection to my mother’s story. That remarkable thing where you get an objective glimpse at one of your parents, you see them as a person and not as your parent. I always saw myself in the novel. Now I see my mother there too. It has given me profound empathy for what she has been through, and it has highlighted our common ground.
Judy Garland’s 1961 Carnegie Hall concert continues to amaze me. We are so fortunate to have that evening captured on record. That we can go back in time and sit in that audience with her is a very special thing. I love to put the album on and listen to it straight through. Every time I do, I understand a little bit better how to connect to an audience through song. She was the master. I’m always learning from her.
Annie Lennox’s Diva is one of the great albums of all time, in my opinion. One of the things I’m always trying to do with my shows is to introduce the audience to the lyrics of an album—beat by beat, moment by moment. The lyrics on this album are of the finest quality. Each time I sing one of Ms. Lennox’s songs I find new depth, like the great jazz standards of Judy Garland’s time. They are eternal. That’s what I’m pointing at here. The songwriting is phenomenal. Heartbreak. Joy. Silliness. Ecstasy. Desperation. The stuff of humanity. It’s all on this album. Waiting for you.
What was your road to Fringe?
Ten years ago I created a cabaret series in New York called The Living Record Collection (LCR) where I take whole, incredible albums and smash them together with a piece of literature or some other major cultural touchstone. Two opposing forces woven together with stories from my own life which creates something totally new. An evening of unforgettable theatre.
I have dreamed of the Fringe since the LRC’s inception. In fact, we had plans to come over to Edinburgh the summer the pandemic hit and the world fell apart. So this moment feels particularly triumphant.
Why was it important for you to showcase this cabaret at Fringe this year?
The Living Record Collection currently contains 21 shows built from 21 different albums. And it's growing! So it was a tough decision. Which one should we bring? Led Zeppelin IV and Treasure Island? The Smiths' The Queen is Dead and Frankenstein? It felt right to bring music from a beloved Scottish artist to Scotland. And it felt nice, in juxtaposition, that that album is paired with a lesser-known novel, so audiences could be completely surprised by the story. But, truly, it was very hard to choose.
What do you hope audiences take away from your performance?
First and foremost I want audiences to be wildly entertained. That’s always my most important job, phenomenal feats performed live on stage and little surprises around every corner. In the end, the show is speaking to anyone who has something inside of them—some part of them that is hiding, that is desperate to come out and play—but that is too frightened. It is a call to be free.
Have members of your family seen your work? What were their reactions?
Yes! My entire family has seen my work. And, as my shows are part autobiography, they are often featured. I try to portray them fairly. And honestly. And lovingly. They are all very proud of me. Have there been some uncomfortable moments? Yes! But ultimately my shows are not about my family. They’re not a chance to tell all. I tell you about myself so that you can perhaps catch a glimpse of yourself.
If your younger self had the opportunity to see These are the Contents of My Head performed, what kind of conversation do you think you’d have afterwards?
You know, I think about this a lot when I think about gratitude. As an adult, I feel so grateful for the life I have, for the artistic career that I have the privilege of living.
My younger self—I think he would be gobsmacked if he knew what he was going to get to do, from a performance perspective. As Kermit the Frog says, “I just want to sing and dance and make people happy.” My younger self always longed for that. But also, I would say to little Salty, “Everything that hurts right now, you’re going to use it to make so much magic. And it’s going to heal you. And it’s going to help others. Just you wait.” This show is for him as much as it is for anybody. I’m holding his hand all the way through it.
What is inspiring you right now?
All of the Fringe performers! They are the friends I have made here in the past few weeks. I’m getting emotional talking about this! These people are an inspiration. Everyone is so passionate and talented and joyful and kind. Everyone is working so hard. To be here, surrounded by so many incredible theater makers, I’m energized. I want more. I’m collecting gorgeous new friend—snagging them for coffee dates and making plans to stay in touch and have this international network of artists. It is beyond special.
These Are the Contents of My Head (The Annie Lennox Show) performs at Assembly Checkpoint until August 25. Tickets are available here.
