Ute Lemper voice
Vana Gierig piano
Tito Castro bandoneon
Ute Lemper's performances have grown out of a passionate and enduring commitment to art, politics and history, and out of a complicated relationship with her homeland and its past. Her panache, versatility and sophisticated repertoire – including Berlin cabaret songs and the dark gems of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill – have brought her international acclaim as a recording artist, and in the theatre, cabaret and film worlds.
Now resident in New York, she was born in Münster, Germany, and went on to dazzle audiences worldwide in music theatre roles – Velma Kelly in Chicago (London, New York, Las Vegas), appeared in Cats in Vienna and played Sally Bowles in Jérôme Savary’s Paris production of Cabaret. Yet she has returned again and again to the dark, complex and powerfully creative German past, in solo and symphony concerts, with choreographer Pina Bausch, and with recordings of The Threepenny Opera, The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny Songspiel.
Ute Lemper has explored other styles with brilliant success – collaborating with Michael Nyman, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Nick Cave and Stephen Sondheim – and not surprisingly, in 1994, was named American Billboard’s Crossover Artist of the Year. Many other awards have followed, including an Olivier for Chicago, and a Molière Award for Best Actress. Last Tango in Berlin spins around the decadence of Berlin, yesterday and today, around temptation and the search for love in a ruthless world. It draws from Piazzolla, Jaques Brel and Edith Piaf; from Kurt Weill, Kander and Ebb, and the songs of Marlène Dietrich. ‘I will always keep Berlin alive with contemporary and nostalgic eyes,’ she says, ‘as the lust and anarchy of Weimar lives forever.’
£28, £24, £20, £16, £10
(Concessions available)
E6
See Ute Lemper perform Edith Piaf’s Rue Pigalle:
You may also be interested in the Brecht and Weill Night on Sunday 5 June. Click here to be redirected.