Ute Lemper – Rendezvous with Marlene

Ute Lemper was just 24, dubbed la nouvelle Marlene by the Parisian press; the original Marlene was 87, living out her last years in the French capital. Ute wrote her a letter and expecting nothing back, was surprised and suspicious when told Marlene had replied. Later that night, the old and the new talked on the telephone for three hours, the original Marlene sharing her love of poetry, of music and movies, of her lost homeland and stories of her lovers, both men and women.

Lemper brings that conversation to the stage in an outstanding narrative of words and song: from Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”, to Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in The Wind”; through Friedrich Hollaender and Cole Porter; through homages to Bacharach and Piaf. She sings effortlessly in German, French and English – often all three languages in the same song – and the audience can’t get enough in over two hours of Ute and Marlene.

Vana Gierig’s band, a quartet of piano, double bass, violin and percussion, play beautifully, evoking both energy and sadness to embrace Ute’s magnificent voice – not that it needs the support: its range, tone and power are astounding as she inhabits Marlene for the most part, but fluently steps out into Ute to tell some of her side of the story.

We’re told of how Marlene was barely aware of her success in the movie The Blue Angel in the Germany she left behind before the Second World War, of her movies in Hollywood, and idiosyncrasies of her many lovers. She’s quietly humble about supporting the Allied forces in the war, performing for them wherever they fought, remarking that the mattresses of Generals were more comfortable than those of Captains. We hear of her later years, time in Las Vegas with Burt Bacharach, and the disappointment and bitterness of Germany’s rejection of her, even after the Berlin Wall came down.

The presentation of this telephone call is impressive: the balance of story and song is perfect, the lighting is gorgeous, sensitive to the themes and scales of the lyrics and music, and the sound is incredible, filling the immense space of Thebarton Theatre yet still feeling intimate, as if in a much smaller room, with a much smaller crowd.

Lemper gives us a Marlene that is less celebrity and more human: a mother, a lover, a performer; she was fearless in standing up for what she believed in, and a woman way ahead of the times in leading, not following.

Mark Wickett

Photographer: Lucas Allen

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