Publication: Musical Theatre Review
By: Barrie Jerram
Date: November 21, 2020

Ute Lemper: Rendezvous With Marlene will be also be streamed globally on 25 November 2020 and 5 December 2020 after being filmed at Club Cumming in New York with Alan Cumming and Ute Lemper as producers.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Ute Lemper’s career, spanning over 30 years is vast and varied. She has been universally praised for her interpretations of Berlin cabaret songs, the works of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht and the chansons of Marlene Dietrich and many other famous songwriters.

Throughout her long career, Lemper has been hailed the new Dietrich  and this show is her personal homage to the legend. It takes the form of  a dialogue between Lemper and Dietrich, exploring Dietrich’s career and personal life from the beginning, in a timeline that eventually meets Lemper’s timeline with a continuation of their parallel stories.

Dietrich is living in a squalid Paris apartment. She is now a recluse, even her daughter Marie has abandoned her, filling her days with memories and bottles of Moet and Chandon. The telephone is her only link with the outside world. She often rings world leaders to chat and persuade them to strive for world peace.

In 1987 she phones Lemper who has written to her, and out of this three-hour call the singer and actress has created and written this show, telling some captivating secrets of her life.

Lemper alternates between the persona of the reclusive Dietrich and the performing one as well as herself. The recluse talks of her loneliness and the pains of the body and the heart. She reminisces about her many affairs, stating that love never lasts but friendships do. The public Dietrich is well known but not the personal which she wants Lemper to redress in the future.

She recalls her hatred of Hitler and the Nazis and that she renounced her Germany citizenship and took up an American one. She enlisted and toured the front lines of Europe to boost the morale of US servicemen – “her boys”. In 1943 her recording of ‘Lili Marleen’ – a song of dreams – is broadcast all over Europe. This led to a backlash in Germany which lasted for years. It was only towards the end of her career that she was welcomed back and even then there were hostile Neo-Nazis protests. Her anti-war spiel leads into a moving version of ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’ – half in German and half in English.

When Lemper sings she does so without slavishly impersonating the legend. With songs like ‘One For My Baby’ and ‘Just a Gigolo’ she sings in her own style with the hint of Dietrich being replaced with a jazzy delivery.

Her film work is recalled along with her relations with their directors, particularly with Billy Wilder and Von Sternberg. This enables Lemper to sing ‘The Boys in the Back Room’ and ‘They Call Me Naughty Lola’ where she dons the top hat and adopts that iconic pose on a chair. Lemper gives it a jazz treatment which is augmented by fine piano and trumpet solos.

‘Black Market’ is given a bitter delivery, telling of trading possessions and self for life’s essentials in Berlin. ‘Ruins of Berlin’ recalls memories and laments the destruction of her city.

‘The Laziest Gal In Town’ – a sexy playful delivery – is contrasted with Brel’s wistful ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’ which is heart-wrenching.

French continues as Lemper takes on the character of Edith Piaf – one of Dietrich’s many female lovers – leading the gentle ballad into a swinging version of ‘I Wish You Love’.

Lemper is to be congratulated for weaving together a vast amount of information into an entertaining evening with some classic songs, often presented in her own style.

She is supported by an excellent band that augment but never dominate the singer. Musical director and piano – Vana Gierig; Jesse Mills violin; Matthew Parrish bass; Todd Turkisher drums and Tim Ouimette trumpet. The show is directed by Evan Quinn.

I think it was in 1965, at the Theatre Royal Brighton, that I had the great privilege of seeing Marlene Dietrich perform live. Wonderful memories brought back to mind by Lemper’s performance.

Click here to buy tickets to view the program.

Click here to read the review on the Musical Theatre Review website.

Publication: Love London Love Culture
By: Emma Clarendon
Date: November 20, 2020

This sumptuously presented production offers a fascinating insight into the life of Marlene Dietrich.

Marlene Dietrich’s life and career has made her one of the most fascinating singers and Hollywood stars and has been subject to plenty of stage shows over the years. But she has never been portrayed better than in Ute Lemper’s detailed performance that covers every important element of her life with great understanding and respect.

Rendezvous With Marlene is actually based on Ute Lemper’s own unexpected three hour phone call with Dietrich having sent her letter apologising for being compared to the star when she appeared in Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret. What follows is a combination of music and conversation, that captures Dietrich’s life and thoughts on a variety of topics.

Filmed in Club Cumming in New York, there is a gorgeous cabaret style to the performance that creates this feeling of intimacy, helped by Evan Quinn’s fabulous direction that makes full use of the venue. The show has also been seamlessly edited with high production values for an online audience to make it a completely absorbing if slightly melancholy experience.

While it would be easy to see this as simply a cabaret production, the way in which Lemper has put the show together, there is actually quite a bit of drama underneath the music and stories that reveal just how incredible Dietrich’s life was. In one particularly powerful moment, when she is discussing the way the Nazis wanted her to return to Germany and then moved on to her horror of what was happening in the concentration camps – it shows her inner strength to do what it took to fight against her own countrymen. It is moments like this that are quiet – but pulsate with tension that keep the audience compelled to watch.

Through Ute Lemper’s detailed performance, the audience sees Dietrich as a force of nature – a personality who stood for no nonsense. But equally, you really get a strong sense of her loneliness in her later life that is quite sad to see given just how much she was idolised – particularly after her death.

Vocally, Lemper offers plenty of gorgeous renditions of songs including Pete Seeger’s ‘Where Have the Flowers Gone’ , Johnny Mercer’s ‘One For My Baby’ and ‘Falling in Love Again’ proving to be particular highlights out of the sixteen songs featured. It really is a performance that delivers on all fronts.

Overall, Rendezvous With Marlene is a poignant and insightful way of exploring her life. The attention to detail is simply exquisite.

Ute Lemper: Rendezvous With Marlene’, filmed at Club Cumming in New York with Alan Cumming and Ute Lemper as producers, will be streamed globally on two more evenings – Wednesday 25 November at 01.00 and Saturday, 5 December 2020 at 19.00. Booking link: https://www.stellartickets.com/events/club-cumming-productions/ute-lemper-in-rendezvous-with-marlene

Rating:

Click here to read on the Love London Love Culture site.

Publication: London Theatre 1
By: John Groves
Date: November 20, 2020

★★★★

“Fascinating, essential viewing for fans of both artistes. Ms Lemper has Marlene’s mannerisms perfectly, but her portrayal is much more than that: at times she really convinces us that she IS the great film star”

Londontheatre1

In 1987, Ute Lemper appeared in Paris as Sally Bowles in Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret. The critics were ecstatic about her performance for which she later won a ‘Moliere Award’, comparing her to Marlene Dietrich, who had taken up permanent residence in the city. Ute sent Marlene, whom she had long admired but never met, a postcard apologising for all the media attention.

Sometime later, out of the blue, Marlene phoned Ute for over three hours: Rendezvous with Marlene, a one-woman show devised and performed by Ute Lemper is based on this phone call.

Ms Lemper plays both herself and Marlene Dietrich, telling the story of an extraordinary life, and trying to get under the skin of this icon. The fact that this is Marlene talking to us and giving us her view of her life is almost totally believable. Ms Lemper has Marlene’s mannerisms perfectly, but her portrayal is much more than that: at times she really convinces us that she IS the great film star.

The life story is interspersed with sixteen songs, most of which are well known. Perhaps the most memorable, certainly in this performance, is Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “One For My Baby”, which is most affecting in a beautifully understated performance, though Pete Seeger’s “Where have all the Flowers Gone” sung in three languages runs it a close second.

Ute Lemper is accompanied by a five-piece band, in which violinist Matthew Parrish plays particularly poignantly, especially some Debussy arrangements.

Six days before Ute’s opening night playing Lola in the 1992 Berlin production of The Blue Angel, the role that had made Dietrich a star in 1928, Marlene passed away. Rendezvous with Marlene is Ute Lemper’s “personal homage to that great lady”. The result is fascinating, if a little depressing, but essential viewing for fans of both artistes. The 129-minute show was recorded live but without an audience. Before Covid it was intended that this show would tour the UK – meanwhile here is an opportunity to be immersed in a powerful story.

Review by John Groves

UTE LEMPER is gracing the virtual series with her critically acclaimed show “Rendezvous with Marlene” which is less filmed concert and more of a theatrical film, shot entirely at Club Cumming. Ute honors the teutonic Marlene with a show based on the true story a phone call Ute received by the film legend 35 years ago in France. “Rendezvous with Marlene,” which debuted in London in 2019, includes some of Marlene’s most beautiful songs and captivating secrets of her life – from her illicit love affairs to her groundbreaking political activism – shared during the three hour-plus call.

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Click here to read the review on London Theatre 1

Publication: The Reviews Hub
By: Helen Tope
Date: November 19, 2020

★★★★★ 5 stars

“Impeccably styled but with plenty to say, ‘Ute Lemper: Rendezvous With Marlene’ provides a welcome dose of glamour. Lemper, sensational as Dietrich, seduces her audience, as if we were in touching distance”

Creator and Writer: Ute Lemper
Director: Evan Quinn

Merging style with substance, Rendezvous with Marlene pays tribute to the iconic film star, Marlene Dietrich. Drawing upon a conversation between its subject and its star Ute Lemper, what is remarkable is that this show is not an academic exercise.

In 1988, the paths of Lemper and Dietrich crossed when Lemper starred as Sally Bowles in a production of Cabaret. Her striking resemblance to the German star allowed critics to dub her ‘the new Marlene’. Even though Lemper was awarded the Moliere Award for her performance, she was mortified at being compared to the legend and fired off a postcard apologising to Dietrich. Returning home after work a few days later, Ute was informed that Marlene had rung, asking to speak to her. Rushing to her phone, Lemper took the call. It lasted three hours.

Taking inspiration from that extraordinary call, Lemper created a one-woman show, celebrating the life and music of Dietrich. Appearing in cabaret at the Arcola Theatre in 2019, Rendezous with Marlene is unashamedly evocative. In this version, filmed in Alan Cumming’s bar in New York, we are – from the very first note – drawn into the cabaret world. The stage is perfectly lit; Lemper greets us like old friends. She introduces the show, discussing how her biography has intersected with Dietrich’s over the years. They have lived and worked in the same places; both women finding success interpreting the music of Kurt Weill.

Lemper uses monologue as a bridge between the 5-star song list. Featuring some of Dietrich’s most important music, including Lili Marleen and Falling in Love Again, Lemper paints a picture of Dietrich. It is a highly sympathetic portrait; but when your subject is an androgynous, polygamous anti-fascist, it’s hard to argue against Lemper’s clearly affectionate look at this complex and fascinating woman.

The monologues piece together the phone-call between Ute and Marlene. As Dietrich gossips with Ute, she drifts off into memories of her career: Her star-making role in Blue Angel; the move to Hollywood and Paramount Pictures. Lemper’s Dietrich casts such a spell that we soak up every detail, including that scandalous roll-call of Hollywood lovers.

Of course, it’s not just Dietrich on the stage. As a musical theatre veteran, Lemper blends Dietrich’s tone with her own bravura voice. As Dietrich learns that the emotion is sat in-between the notes of a song, Lemper uses her familiarity with jazz to create beautiful new interpretations of Dietrich classics. One for My Baby and Laziest Gal in Town are particular highlights.

Lemper, as a performer, understands the link between a singer and their music. As we move from Dietrich’s time in Weimar cabaret to the heart of Hollywood, Where Have All the Flowers Gone and Ruins of Berlin depict the troubled relationship Dietrich had with her homeland. An ex-pat, and highly critical of her country’s fall to Nazism, Lemper illustrates this tension as Dietrich moves from English to German, slipping in and out, as if in a dream. Dietrich knew the importance of paying attention to history. Lemper doesn’t have to reach too far in drawing parallels with our own era.

Filmed for an online audience, Rendezvous retains that sense of intimacy so important for a cabaret show. The camera pulls in tightly, reinforcing the idea that we are sat in the dark, taking it all in. While other shows have struggled to make the same impact online, Rendezvous feels made for the digital age. Lemper, sensational as Dietrich, is very comfortable in front of the camera. She seduces her audience, as if we were in touching distance.

Impeccably styled but with plenty to say, Rendezvous provides a welcome dose of glamour. Where Hollywood meets the West End, this is theatre to savour. Pour yourself a drink, pull up a chair. Marlene’s waiting.

Ute Lemper: Rendezvous With Marlene, filmed at Club Cumming in New York with Alan Cumming and Ute Lemper as producers, will be streamed globally on three evenings this month –
Thursday, 19 November at 19.00 (UK time), Wednesday 25 November at 01.00 and Saturday, 5 December 2020 at 19.00.

Booking link: https://www.stellartickets.com/events/club-cumming-productions/ute-lemper-in-rendezvous-with-marlene 

Click here to read the original review online.

Publication: London Theatre Reviews
By: Jari Laasko
Date: 19 November, 2020

★★★★★ 5 stars

“A magical fusion of theatre and cinema – a plea to the world that we must never forget what came before and not to repeat the mistakes of the past”

The international star of stage and cabaret from Broadway to the West End, Ute Lemper shares stories,  personal memories, love and admiration for the Hollywood legend: Marlene Dietrich. Ahead of the worldwide streaming event of her successful one-woman-show, Rendezvous with Marlene, we were invited to preview the show filmed at the Club Cumming in New York.

Rendezvous with Marlene is a highly personal piece to Ute Lemper, as the show is based on a three-hour phone call she received out of the blue from Dietrich in 1988. The icon looked back on her vast career from her beginnings in the Weimar cabaret to her breakthrough in the film Blue Angel, from entertaining the Allied troops during the Second World War to reinventing herself as a star of the world’s greatest concert halls. As  Dietrich got older she felt her legend could not be embellished anymore, she famously didn’t leave her  Parisian apartment. She kept company to her telephone, making calls to her old colleagues, world leaders,  and indeed the newcomer already compared to her. The show is delivered as a dialogue between Dietrich and Lemper, and where Dietrich’s story ends Lemper picks up the baton.

Songs are at the heart of this evening and Lemper gives the Dietrich repertoire a fresh spin with new arrangements provided by a five-piece-band alongside her sultry and jazzy vocals, and often sings the material better than the original. Expect the expected, from the greatest hits like Lili Marlene, Falling in Love  Again to her heartbreaking anti-war anthem with Where Have All The Flowers Gone. It’s with songs like No  Me Quittes Pas, dedicated to the love of her life Jean Gabin, and Que reste-t-il de nos amours / I Wish You  Love sung tenderly to Edith Piaf, a woman whom she was both a stage mother and lover after midnight, is where Lemper serves us a glimpse of the private and vulnerable side of Dietrich. She said she always guarded and kept separate her private life from her public persona, and Illusions perfectly captures the duality of this aspect of her character.

So why tell Dietrich’s story now? This one-woman-show is more than just a filmed cabaret. It is a cinematic performance, richly layered with historical images and videos, staged all over the Club Cummings, perfectly capturing the complexity of Dietrich. She was a trailblazer and in so many ways ahead of her time. Dietrich is a modern woman, who was not afraid to challenge the men around her (and they were powerful, ranging from General Eisenhower to her famous directors), being openly bisexual, and sticking to her political views whilst denouncing her German citizenship and brushing off lucrative offers to perform for the Nazi regime. In the current highly polarised political climate around the world, we need more people like Dietrich, who fought to bring us together (in later life even performing in her native Germany despite the bomb threats and protests due to her actions during the war).

Lemper’s script and performance is not a caricature, which there are so many of Dietrich, but rather a fully-fledged woman of today. She doesn’t copy her delivery or voice but makes each song and story her own,  expressing a range of emotions with her big eyes. And whilst Dietrich is long gone, Lemper continues the great tradition of storytelling through song, inhabiting Dietrich’s ability to be at ease with love, comedy, and taboos. This is a plea to the world that we must never forget what came before and not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Ute Lemper: Rendezvous With Marlene’, filmed at Club Cumming in New York with Alan Cummin and Ute  Lemper as producers, will be streamed globally on three evenings this month – Thursday, 19 November at  19.00 (UK time), Wednesday 25 November at 01.00 and Saturday, 5 December 2020 at 19.00. Tickets here.

Click here to read the review on London Theatre Review site.