Articles and news related to live appearances

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For Immediate Release
January 8, 2018

Ute Lemper returns to Café Carlyle with an all-new show, Rendezvous With Marlene, February 27 – March 3. Rendezvous With Marlene is based on a 3-hour phone call and exchange between Marlene Dietrich and Ute in 1988. After receiving the French Molière Award for her performance in Cabaret in Paris, Ute had sent a postcard to Marlene, who had lived at 12 Avenue de Montaigne since 1979, essentially apologizing for all the media attention comparing her to Marlene Dietrich. Ute was just at the beginning of her career in theatre and music, whereas Marlene looked back on a long, fulfilled life of movies, music, incredible collaborations, love stories and stardom. Ute considers it a secret gift to have heard Marlene talk about her life, her work and style, her love for the poet Rilke, her complicated relationship with Germany, her sorrow and her fascinations.

Six days before Ute’s opening night playing the part of Lola in the 1992 Blue Angel production in Berlin – the role that had made Marlene a star in 1928 – Marlene Dietrich passed away in Paris. After her glamorous funeral in La Madeleine, Marlene finally came back to Berlin to be put to rest. Ute tells us Marlene’s story along with singing songs from all chapters of her life — from the Berlin Cabaret Years to her fabulous Burt Bacharach collaborations.

Now 30 years later, after her own extensive international career and also complicated relationship with her home country Germany that she only returns to for concerts, and living the last 30 years between New York, London and Paris, Ute reflects with humor and depth on that unique moment with Marlene.

Performances will take place Tuesday – Saturday at 8:45pm. Weekday pricing begins at $65 per person / Bar Seating: $40 / Premium Seating: $115. Weekend pricing begins at $80 per person / Bar Seating: $50 / Premium Seating: $130. Reservations can be made by phone at 212.744.1600 or online via Ticketweb. Café Carlyle is located in The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel (35 East 76th Street, at Madison Avenue).

Ute Lemper’s career is vast and varied. She has made her mark on the stage, in films, in concert and as a unique recording artist on more than 30 albums over an esteemed 30-year career. She has been universally praised 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, Léo Ferré, Jacques Prévert, Nino Rota, Astor Piazzolla, her own compositions, as well as her portrays in musicals and plays on Broadway, in Paris, Berlin and in London’s West End.

Follow Ute Lemper on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Café Carlyle on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About Café Carlyle at The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel

Originally opened in 1955, Café Carlyle is New York City’s bastion of classic cabaret entertainment, a place where audiences experience exceptional performers at close range in an exceedingly elegant setting. Since composer Richard Rodgers moved in as The Carlyle’s first tenant, music has been an essential part of The Carlyle experience. No place is that more evident than in the Café Carlyle.

Café Carlyle is known for talents including Woody Allen, who regularly appears on Monday evenings to play with the Eddy Davis New Orleans jazz band. For three decades, Café Carlyle was synonymous with the legendary Bobby Short, who thrilled sell-out crowds for 36 years. His spirit lives on through the music at Café Carlyle.

Continuing the tradition of the 1930s supper club, Café Carlyle features original murals created by French artist Marcel Vertès, the Oscar-winning art director of the 1952 Moulin Rouge.

American Airlines in-flight magazine, American Way, recently included Café Carlyle within their 2017 Platinum List as one of the Top 3 Music Venues in the World.

For more information, please contact Matt Gross at Blake Zidell & Associates, 718.643.9052, matt@blakezidell.com.

 

Click here to download this Press Release

Click here for more information about this fascinating program, and visit the calendar page to select a performance and purchase tickets.

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By Robert Viagas
Playbill, 8 January, 2018

German singer and actor Ute Lemper returns to Café Carlyle in New York City February 27 to March 3 with an all-new show, Rendezvous With Marlene, featuring songs made famous by Marlene Dietrich.

Lemper recounts the life of the iconic German-born film star (1901–1992) along with singing songs from all chapters of Dietrich’s life—from the Berlin cabaret years of the 1920s through her movie career to her live shows in the 1950s–1970s and her Burt Bacharach collaborations. Dietrich also made two concert appearances on Broadway, in 1967 and 1968…

Click here to read full article (includes a link to ‘Diva Talk’ interview in article)

 

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Date: 21 novembre 2017
Publication: Corriere dello Spettacolo
By: Paola Pini

Songs for Eternity è qualcosa di più di un semplice recital di canzoni scritte nei ghetti o nei campi di concentramento e di sterminio.

Ascoltare Ute Lemper cantare e raccontare assieme a cinque musicisti provenienti da diverse parti del mondo (Vana Gierig, pianoforte; Daniel Hoffman, violino; Gilad Harel, clarinetto; Roman Lecuyer, contrabbasso; Victor Villena, bandoneon), ridà vita alle opere proposte, recuperate con fatica e dedizione e a chi le ha scritte, cantate in quei luoghi, custodite e ricostruite in seguito, se sopravvissuto.

Come giustamente ha detto lei stessa, “chi non c’è stato non può capire”, ma la sua splendida voce e i gesti eleganti e misurati che la sostengono uniti a una determinazione e a un rigore chiari e palpabili, danno corpo a quelle ombre e gli spettatori ne percepiscono la presenza discreta in sala, sedute loro accanto.

Si sentono tante lingue, perché Ute Lemper alterna con naturalezza l’inglese al tedesco, l’italiano allo yiddish e tutto è ugualmente comprensibile, come se la parola fosse un’ulteriore modo per esprimere il suono musicale.

L’artista tedesca, nata dopo la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, è padrona assoluta della scena che occupa dimostrando chiaramente di rispondere a un imperativo categorico, ad una precisa presa di responsabilità e attraverso un repertorio emotivamente forte che con amore interpreta, riesce a ridar dignità a chi è passato attraverso orrori inenarrabili e grazie alla musica, le parole e i racconti creati in quei luoghi più che bui, richiama idealmente chi li aveva pensati, cantati, ricordati dopo essere sopravvissuto e tornato alla libertà.

Perché anche a Terezin e ad Auschwitz il desiderio di vivere era presente; anche lì c’era chi cantava delle ninne nanne. In particolare a Terezin, il “ghetto modello” usato dai nazisti per far propaganda ed offrire al mondo intero l’alibi che permettesse di credere che gli ebrei vivevano beati grazie alla benevolenza germanica, la resistenza contro la morte e l’annientamento dell’anima passava attraverso la musica creata da Victor Ullman, Carlo Taube, Ilse Weber e altri, donne e uomini, che attraverso di essa volevano mostrare a se stessi e agli altri la fiducia in un futuro di nuovo degno per l’Uomo.

La musica, se non viene eseguita è come se non fosse mai stata scritta; le persone, se non vengono ricordate per quello che erano e per ciò che fecero, scompaiono nell’oblio. Continuare a suonare queste canzoni permette a chi le esegue e a chi le ascolta di entrare in una dimensione speciale,

un po’ come in Fahrenheit 451 il romanzo di Ray Bradbury, in cui i ribelli, che si oppongono alla distruzione dei libri attraverso il fuoco, prendono su di sé il ruolo di testi viventi, testimonianza reale di una memoria antica per mantenerla viva.

Il collegamento richiama alla memoria il tanto ripetuto e purtroppo inascoltato monito di Heinrich Heine: “Là dove si bruciano i libri si finisce per bruciare anche gli uomini “. Troppo facile riempirsi la bocca di citazioni e poi non riuscire a vedere quanto anche oggi ci si trovi sull’orlo del baratro, come allora di nuovo inconsapevoli. Nella storia è spesso presente il legame fra il pensiero scritto, il fuoco e le persone, a volte più labile, a volte molto stretto e non c’è nessuna differenza tra il distruggere un libro o uno spartito nato dal desiderio di esprimere il proprio animo per consolare il presente e sperare nel futuro proprio e della civiltà umana attraverso racconti, poesie, canzoni.

Ecco allora che l’opera di Ute Lemper, il suo voler ridar vita a tutto ciò va ben al di là di qualcosa di “interessante” o di “bello”: è azione civile, seria, profonda, vera.

Click here to read on the publication’s website

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Weston-Super-Mum, October 19, 2017
By: Mark Bradshaw

Bristol’s St George’s is full tonight, parking was a more challenging than usual, and there’s barely room to move as people queue to enter the auditorium. It’s so full in fact, sold-out, that our seats have been given to someone else and we have to perch on the bench at the very back of the hall (thanks Joe on the auditorium door, and the box office staff for doing everything possible to get us seated)

Everyone is here to see Ute Lemper, actor, star of musicals, and chanteuse perform her ‘Last Tango in Berlin – The Best of Ute’ not something I might normally get excited about, but it would be silly to miss a singer of this quality in our own backyard.

If you were asked to imagine a German cabaret singer you’d almost certainly have a picture of Ute Lemper in mind, both my plus one and myself couldn’t help but compare her appearance tonight to that of Jessica Rabbit, just much less rabbity. Dressed in a long split dress she looks every inch the classic cabaret act. I was in Berlin in the mid ’80s as a 17 year-old, I didn’t see anything like this – I didn’t try hard enough!

I’ve previously criticised the venue for being too brightly lit but it works very well tonight to show off Ute & her supporting musicians perfectly.

The music is a mix of songs in French, German and English, and it’s obvious that Ute is fluent in all three. I favour the songs sung in German, my companion loved those in French, a lot to do with those being the languages we speak, respectively. The songs invariably lose a little in translation – the meaning comes through, mostly but some of the word play suffers. The Moritat von Mackie Messer just sounds so much better, how Brecht intended it, than any version I’ve ever heard translated to English.
I am aware that I’ve learned quite a bit about the origins of the songs we heard, and what they mean to Ute as she schools the audience as she introduces each song. It certainly doesn’t detract from the experience; it’s great to be able to understand the context of what we hear, although sat so far back, behind the audience, it was difficult to hear Ute’s softly-spoken commentary, pitched perfectly, as it was, for those in the paying seats.

Ute sings playfully at times, her jazz improvisation is stunning, mesmerising; in fact I struggled to remember any detail as the performance came to a close as I seemed to go into a bit of a trance, enjoying the moment rather than trying to analyse it in any meaningful way.

I know that I smiled for most of the performance, and left with a new appreciation for a genre I’d not normally seek out.

Click here to read the review online

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World renowned chanteuse Ute Lemper makes a welcome return to the UK stage performing her celebrated show Last Tango in Berlin – The Best of Ute.

The journey starts in Berlin with Ute’s root repertoire of Brecht and Weill and the Berlin Cabaret songs. It continues into the poetic universe of the French chansons by Brel, Piaf, Ferre and further to the Argentinian world of Tango by Astor Piazzolla.

Ute walks through the backstreets of Paris, Berlin, New York and Buenos Aires and lets ancient ghosts with new faces tell the stories of the lost, of love, survival, passion, dreams, societies, the past and the future.

Ute also performs her own songs to connect the yesterday with the today through her own stories about these places and about life.

Click here to see the page with a video medley of ‘Mackie Messer’, along with ticket sales information.