Publication: The Watford Observer
By: Mattie Lacey-Davidson
7 May 2018
The award winning singer and actress Ute Lemper is going to be in the UK during the summer and will appear at the Radlett Centre on May 23.
Songs for Eternity is of songs written in ghettos and concentration camps. Most of them are in Yiddish, written in the depths of unspeakable ferocity and brutality. Songs of rebellion and hope, songs that celebrate life and love songs that mirror the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust.
As a recording artist, her discography encompasses more than 30 albums over 30 years, including 2012’s Grammy-nominated Paris Days, Berlin Nights on Steinway & Sons. She has been lauded for her interpretations of Berlin cabaret songs, the works of Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht and the Chansons of Marlene Dietrich, Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Leo Ferre, Jacques Prevert and Nino Rota, among many others—not to mention her own compositions.
She has recorded the music of Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Philip Glass and Nick Cave, and was named Billboard’s Crossover Artist of the Year for 1993–1994.
Born in Munster, Germany and based now in New York, Lemper completed her studies at The Dance Academy in Cologne and the Max Reinhardt Seminary Drama School in Vienna and made her professional debut in the original Vienna production of Cats in the roles of Grizabella and Bombalurina. She went on to play Peter Pan in Peter Pan in Berlin and Sally Bowles in Jerome Savary’s Cabaret in Paris, for which she received the Moliere Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
She played Lola in The Blue Angel under the direction of Peter Zadek and Maurice Bejart created the ballet La Mort Subite for her in Paris. She originated the role of Velma Kelly in London’s West End production of Chicago, for which she was honored with the Laurence Olivier Award, moved to the Broadway production where she received the American Theatre Award, and went on to star in the production’s Las Vegas premiere with Chita Rivera.
Her many film and television credits include Woody Allen’s recent Magic in the Moonlight.
The Radlett Centre, 1 Aldenham Avenue, Radlett, WD7 8HL, May 23. Details: 01923 859291
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