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Just north of the weird urban mall South Street Seaport, the Spiegeltent opened up its second season over the weekend. The show was called Absinthe and, as one might guess, it strove to recreate the hallucinogenic debauchery that is that drink's signature. The tent, an original relic from 1926, was full of wooden seats, fake smoke and carnies. Soon an incredibly flexible girl in a green leotard approached the small circular stage in the center of the tent. She was, we surmised, Absinthe personified. As befitting any cabaret, the emcee was a flamboyant diva who alternately channeled Marlene Dietrich and a Baptist preacher. There were aerialists, roller skaters, jugglers and contortionists, the usual circus/cabaret fare. The aerialists hung by ropes and lifted their legs to unlikely heights: arousing feelings of arousal and worry. Photographer Laurel Ptak was there to capture the spread legs and dramatic lighting.

The only truly innovative act was Julie Atlas Muiz who at one point stuck her whole stripped body into a still inflated balloon. The real question is why has the Weimar Republic held such sway over our cultural imagination? If we are looking for an era in which the gap between the rich and poor gets larger, where savings are at an all time low, where a county's standing worldwide has suffered a tremendous blow, we have no need to cast our eyes back to Berlin. In fact, all one has to do walk through the Food Court at the South Street Seaport.