“One of the rules of The Truth is that you have to be completely vacant and it’s been hard to just contain my excitement so that I can get into character fully.” “It was really hard for me to put on this character at first because I was having so much fun I just wanted to smile all of the time,” says Filiers, who is one half of The Truth, the stern-faced back-up singers and dancers for the Cabaret. What this collection of musicians, singers and dancers enjoys most about the project is that it allows the ability to let go and to take the audience along for the ride. The group’s shows are for swing dancing and sing-alongs.
Those are like the three most beautiful human reactions and experiences happening simultaneously. We get to sing and dance and make people laugh at the same time. It brings joy to other people and it brings joy to us. That’s actually more of what’s kept us together. What has drawn us together is the theatricality of it and the joy of it. Then there are eight people behind you saying the same thing. “But if you can channel songwriting through a character, you can say and do whatever you want. “If it was just David Sweeny playing, people would be like ‘eh,’” he says. Though it was his alter ego and bandmates who helped bring him here, Sweeny is happy to be one of Philly’s most trusted groove-makers and party-starters. The café owner is blaring the band’s music and handing out frozen chocolate espressos like he is taking a queue from their song “ Cocaine Sandwich” (“Hey whatcha sharin’/ gotta give a piece to me”).īy this time, with the large sunglasses removed from his face, you can see David Sweeny again. The band is shooting a music video for the song “Hit It From the Back” and they step inside The Rim Café on South 9th Street to get a few takes. It’s hard to know if you should call them by their real names (Vince Federici, guitar, Micheal Baker, tambourine and backing vocals, and Adrienne Mackey and Liz Filiers, choreography and backing vocals) or their Cabaret characters (Vinnie “The Lion,” Showcase’s spiritual adviser Rumi Kitchen and the two halves of “The Truth,” respectively). Other members of the group wander around the Italian Market in South Philly, dressed in equally distinguishable attire. Joined by his Lefty Lucy Cabaret, the band has been weaving their wild soul music with gaudy theatrical live performances since 2007. Today, Sweeny is his stage persona, Johnny Showcase. But on days like today, you’ll find a crude crooner clad in red flared pants, an orange brocade jacket and a button-up vest exposing a large gold medallion around his neck and tufts of chest hair. Sometimes you’ll find a sweet, funny and expressive 33-year-old. You take a chance any time you receive a call to meet up with South Philly theater performer and musician David Sweeny.
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