Articles and news related to live appearances

by on


Photo by: Lucas Allen

Publication: Edinburgh News
By Liam Rudden
Thursday, 16th January 2020

IT was an unexpected call that led West End and Broadway star Ute Lemper to write Rendezvous With Marlene, her critically acclaimed one-woman show, which she tours to the Queen’s Hall on Saturday 8 February.

Awarded the Moliére Award for her performance as Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret when it played in Paris, the young Lemper decided to write a postcard to Hollywood legend Marlene Dietrich, who was also living in the French capital, to apologise for all the media attention she was garnering, much of which compared her with the legendary icon.

It was 1988 and Lemper was just at the beginning of her career while Dietrich, then st the grand old age of 89, was looking back on a long, fulfilled life of movies, music, incredible collaborations, love stories and global stardom.

Somehow Dietrich managed to track her down and called her out of the blue. The icon stayed on the line for an “unforgettable” three hours sharing stories of her life and career with the young singer. Three decades on and direct from a sold out critically acclaimed London season, the musical theatre star recalls that conversation in Ute Lemper: Rendezvous With Marlene.

For 35 years, Lemper has been compared to Dietrich and this is her personal homage to the star. The evening is a dialogue between the two, 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. Along the way, Lemper sings Dietrich’s most beautiful songs and reveals some captivating secrets of her life.

Lemper says, “Rendezvous with Marlene’ means a lot to me – it is my personal homage to that great lady. There are many portraits of Marlene out there, but this one is coming from my heart. Audiences are in for an incredible story; history, fate, courage, style, politics, glamour and sex, talent and a huge career.”

Six days before Lemper’s opening night playing the part of Lola in the 1992 production of Blue Angel in Berlin – the role that had made Dietrich a star in 1928 – Dietrich passed away in Paris.

In the show, Lemper recalls all the chapters of Dietrich’s amazing life, from the Berlin cabaret years to her fabulous Burt Bacharach collaborations.

It was those collaborations that brought Dietrich to Edinburgh in 1964, when she appeared at the Royal Lyceum as part of the International Festival programme of that year.

Lemper says, “56 Years after Marlene Dietrich last sang in Edinburgh at the Lyceum Theatre with Burt Bacharach, I am coming to your glorious city to tell her true story. I have personally waited 30 years to reach an age that is closer to her at the time when we spoke on the phone some 30 years ago and to channel her sorrow, spirit and courage.

“Marlene’s story is everything from personal and symbolic, political and glamorous, sad and entertaining and spreads through a century until the present. Marlene was a woman of the future, who broke all the rules of her time. A woman of today.”

Ute Lemper: Rendezvous With Marlene, The Queen’s Hall, Clerk Street, Saturday 8 February, 7.30pm, £12-£32, www.thequeenshall.net

Click here to read the article online at Edinburgh News

by on

Photo by Paula Lobo

Publication: Operawire
Date: January 13, 2020
By Jennifer Pyron

The MetLiveArts Series Concert 2019-20 Review: Ute Lemper: Weimar Holiday
A Unique Talent Delivers A Potent Human Experience Through Music

The MetLiveArts program featured “Ute Lemper: Weimar Holiday” at The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium as part of a special Holiday series.

Lemper performed story-telling music by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weil, Friedrich Hollaender, Mischa Spoliansky, Marcellus Schiffer, Shmerke Kaczerginski and Alexander Tamir. The evening highlighted an enlightening and progressive time in Germany’s music history which cultivated the awareness of creative works by exiled Jewish composers. German-born artist Lemper provocatively narrated throughout her performance and captivated listeners with her intoxicating voice.

With an eclectic career featuring an inventive panoply of on-stage performances, film work and multiple recordings, one might refer to Lemper as one of the most influential Berlin Kabarett artist’s of our time. Her ability to express and articulate extraordinary creativity through a history-based musical presentation was profound.

Audience members could not take their eyes off Lemper as they were immersed in her spontaneous poetic art performance and personal stories relating to all historical events. One might best understand Lemper’s affinity with Weimar’s artistic evolution as a reflection of her own internal dialogue as an outspoken expatriate.

Lemper grew up during a politically tumultuous era and discovered the power of music to be her greatest guide. She continued to develop as an artist that specialized in cabaret. However Lemper’s originality is what set her apart from others and carved out her own successful career.

Taking the Reins

In “Weimar Holiday” Lemper took the reins of an interesting series of songs that lead the audience through darkness and into the light. Opening songs included “Liar Liar” by Hollaender, “Streets of Berlin” by Philip Glass and “It’s All a Swindle” (Alles Schwindel) by Spoliansky and Schiffer.

One might have felt like they were listening to a dear friend tell a personal story when enjoying Lemper’s narrative dialogue during this opening. Her voice encapsulated freedom of expression and a fervent drive to deliver entertainment. She was connected to each phrase that she performed like a magician conjuring spirits to reveal secrets of the past.

Hollaender’s “Liar Liar” was a dramatic start to the evening as Lemper dove head first into a passionate “Le Chat Noir”-inspired atmosphere. Her beautiful red gown was hidden beneath a sheer black dress that she zipped up and down as the moody lineup transpired.

“Streets of Berlin” by Glass was a sultry and smooth transition that Lemper utilized to sink deeper into the transcending and nostalgic undertones of Berlin Kabarett. She also had a red boa that laid gently on the back of a chair she used as a prop to emphasize an especially satirical moment. Lemper was smart with her space on stage and drew in the audience’s eye with each song and story.

Spoliansky and Schiffer’s “It’s All a Swindle” was upbeat and memorable as Lemper provocatively maneuvered herself on stage in sync with the music. The three accompanying musicians looked to be having a wonderful time with Lemper and one might have felt like they were part of the party that was taking place on stage.

Biting Honesty

The heart of her performance incorporated biting honesty mixed with an array of salty satire that proved to be the perfect cocktail. Lemper unabashedly experimented with her vocals and playfully created a refreshing perspective of hope as she webbed together significant historical events with song. She infused her natural tonal clarity with smoky subdued waves of emotion that created interesting moments of color.

This was best reflected in the Yiddish lullaby “Shtiler, Shtiler” by Kaczerginski and Tamir, which marked a turning point in Lemper’s performance. She was dynamically focused and sensitive, exposing her raw emotional connection to the music. This moment was eerily somber as the audience was reminded of the horrible pain and suffering of the past’s ghetto suffering and murders. Lemper pulled at the heart strings of the audience but most importantly reminded them of how easily history can repeat itself and tragically affect generations to come.

Hollaender’s “The Ruins of Berlin” was also part of this dark shift and Lemper’s approach to this song was tender and honest. Following with an intense performance of Hollaender’s “Black Market,” she transitioned the evening towards a more introspective tone.

With a history of being compared to Marlene Dietrich, Lemper’s performance of Hollaender’s work ran the risk of coming across as tributary to Dietrich. However, Lemper’s voice remained genuinely expressive and on point. She carried a powerful confidence within herself that could be heard in her voice and felt in the music she sang.

Lemper’s “Ghosts of Berlin” continued to conjure more of her own voice and pioneering spirit. One might have been unable to classify certain aspects of Lemper’s work but one could not deny her as a leading advocate for originality in the music world.

Overall, Lemper embodied a voice of awareness and resilience: a powerful voice of hope.

Click here to see the review on the OperaWire website

by on

November 9th, 2019 was the 30 year anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. With that in mind, I am very excited to take you to Berlin on a musical journey through time and history.

Berlin has had so many faces and chapters through the years. In this special program at the Met Museum, I will lead you through the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic, its music, cabaret and political satire, from the ‘Three Penny Opera’ of Brecht/ Weill to the wild ‘Berlin Cabaret Songs’ by Hollaender, Schwabach and Spoliansky. This ‘Dance on a Volcano’ with the Theater Songs ‘Bilbao Songs/ Pirate Jenny/ Salomon Song, and Moritat of Macky Messer’ and Cabaret Songs like ‘Life’s a Swindle/ the Lavender Song/ I am a Vamp, and Liar, Liar’ represented the climax of the Weimar culture, but was utterly shattered after 1933 as the Nazis censured and eliminated every creative and progressive force. After 1933 Eisler and Brecht had created a ‘Cabaret in the Exile’, that existed only in the not Nazi occupied territories and only for a very brief time. After 1938 everything was shut down and most of the artists were in exile or had been incarcerated in the ghettos and camps. The ‘Cabaret in the Exile’ presented a collection of highly political songs, including the ‘Water Wheel’ and ‘The Ballad of Marie Sanders’.

Following the timeline of history, I include some songs written in the Ghettos, especially Theresienstadt that incarcerated the Jewish composers and poets.

The next chapter is equally haunting, as it brings us to the utterly destroyed Berlin of 1946, with songs written for the movie ‘A Foreign Affair’. It was filmed in the ruins of Berlin. Marlene Dietrich sang these songs written by Friedrich Hollaender in this very movie directed by Billy Wilder.

I often thought that if the Nazis would not have shattered the Culture of Weimar after 1933, the 60’s would have happened already in the 40’s and right there in Berlin!

Click here for more info and to buy tickets.