The Friday night journey to the Saban was kind of like the naturalization process ““ it involved traveling what felt like a great distance along with masses of other people with the same cause, and in the process, expensive documents (a concert ticket, for instance) were lost by the authorities (or a concert venue).
Luckily, the journey was worth the greater cause ““ and in this case, the cause was witnessing Verka Serduchka’s “To America With Love” tour.
Born Andriy Danylko, Serduchka is a drag queen and stage personality roughly equivalent to a Ukrainian Lady Gaga ““ if Lady Gaga were a flamboyant middle-aged woman and danced with her elderly mother on stage.
Like most great pop stars from Eastern Europe, Serduchka entered a few minutes late to build suspense, but unlike most pop stars, she apologized and made a joke about her tardiness. Serduchka came out to a packed theater wearing a sparkly outfit and a trademark silver star headpiece that made her look like a glorious pine tree on New Year’s Eve (the Eastern European holiday equivalent to Christmas).
Unlike most concert sets that begin with a less familiar song and work their way up to the hits, Serduchka began with the song that got her second place in Eurovision 2007 ““ “Dancing Lasha Tumbai.” Right away, the men clad in sailor outfits, the flashing lights on Serduchka’s star hat and the powerful singing without backup vocals created a joyous mood.
Though the nonsensical lyrics “lasha tumbai” have caused controversy in the past when some interpreted them as saying “Russia goodbye” during recent tensions between Russia and Ukraine, there was no anti-Russian sentiment from the Ukrainian performer.
And this was a good call on her part, as the majority of the audience appeared to be primarily Russian speakers ““ when she spoke in Ukrainian, a much smaller portion of the audience continued to comprehend and laugh. Serduchka explained that the phrase “lasha tumbai” would mean “the residents of Los Angeles are the most wonderful in the world” for the night.
Serduchka is not just a singer, but a comedian as well, and at least half of the show was spent in her monologues about “the truths of her life.” These truths included past encounters with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili over her song “Do Re Mi,” Elton John’s reception by the Ukrainian audience, and how just a few months ago she couldn’t understand how anyone could even get to Los Angeles, let alone live here.
Serduchka was funny and certainly knew how to put on a good show. But the show was also clearly better when she sang and danced, and her elaborate jokes were too lengthy. One couple on the balcony agreed, continuously shouting that it was time to sing, not chat.
Serduchka quickly adapted, and in the second half of the show, she adjusted the ratio of music to comedy to the perfect amount. Serduchka performed her well-known songs such as “Vse Budet Horosho,” meaning roughly “Everything will be OK,” and “Gulyanka,” which samples lyrics from the Ukrainian national anthem.
During the show she also performed some pieces in Ukrainian only and brought in some newer songs as well. Every time someone brought flowers on stage, longtime Russian pop star Alla Pugacheva’s famous song “Million Red Roses” would come on in great comic relief.
Besides the whole issue of too much chatter and not enough music, Serduchka did a great job interacting with the audience, behaving like a superstar, and displaying talent to back up the crazy costume changes and bizarre stage rituals. In her own Russian lyrics from “Gulyanka,” clearly Ukraine (and America) are not dead yet, if we are partying like this.
E-mail Krivoruchko at mkrivoruchko@media.ucla.edu.