Bird of Paradise

 
In Native American folklore, the raven is a trickster. With his devilish smile, sultry voice and checkered past, it would be easy to see alt-cabaret star Raven O in that mythological role. Arriving in New York in 1989 (after winning a one-way ticket in a dance contest in his native Hawaii), he took roost in the East Village, singing in seedy clubs and cabarets and befriending luminaries like Grace Jones, Keith Haring and Joey Arias, who is now a lifelong friend and mentor. By the early ’90s, though, Raven fell prey to drugs and resorted to hustling to feed his habit. The bleached-blond bard—who emerged from his addiction to star in acclaimed shows at Bar d’O, The Box and Las Vegas—revisits the good and bad times in his new show, One Night with You, coming to the Bleecker Street Theater on February 23 and March 2.
 
“I was worried about being out of sight,” confesses Raven about his three-year stint in Las Vegas as the emcee for Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity, a role he alternated with Arias on. “But New York keeps moving—they don’t even know you’re gone. I would come back during breaks and vacations and people would be like, ‘Oh, you were gone?’”
 
The gig was a mixed blessing for the singer—it put him back on the stage, which has always been his sanctuary, but his vision of Sin City was far different from the reality. “I went there expecting some dark and decadent scene but it was nothing but obese people and their obese children. There’s no real culture outside of the casinos,” he says bluntly. But Raven put his stamp on the show regardless. “Joey flew me out there and got on me about doing it and I finally gave in. We were totally different characters, so depending on what night you went you’d see something different,” he says.
 
Raven was frustrated with Cirque du Soliel’s heavy-handed approach but he’s totally in control in One Night. “I saw Mario Cantone’s Laugh Whore and thought it was brilliant—that kind of one-man show that’s autobiographical but still entertaining,” the performer explains. “I’ll be telling the stories of my life using music to punctuate the emotions,” he says of the pared-down performance, which will feature just Raven and upright-bass player Ben Allison on stage.
 
Audiences can expect Raven to be outspoken in the show, riffing on the culture and on love. “I don’t believe monogamy is a natural human state. Every time I try to do it, bad things happen,” he says. “But if I stay open, with a guy or girl, we usually don’t wind up looking outside the relationship. It’s when you say you can’t have it that you go looking for it.”
 
With the show ready to debut, Raven is throwing himself into an upcoming album. “It’s all pop, so it’s gonna shock people,” he says. “A lot of people think of me as underground, but I’ve always done mainstream commercial work, too. I have no problem appealing to the audience.” And luckily, that’s something audiences have no problem with either.  N
 
Raven O stars in One Night with You at Bleecker Street Theatre, 45 Bleecker St (btwn Mulberry/Mott Sts) on February 23 and March 2. Visit Raven-O.com for more info.