Photos: Ute Lemper Celebrates Marlene Dietrich’s 125th Birthday at 54 Below

On Firiday September 18 and Saturday September 19, audiences at 54 Below gathered to celebrate the 125th birthday of the iconic Marlene Dietrich with her expert interpreter Ute Lemper (Chicago). The show is an encore engagement following a sold-out January premiere. It's based on a three-hour phone call and exchange between Marlene Dietrich and Ute Lemper in 1988 in Paris. After receiving the French Moliére 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.

What a secret gift to hear 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.

In this unforgettable show, Ute tells us Marlene’s story, along with singing her fabulous songs from all the chapters of her life, from the Berlin cabaret years to her fabulous Burt Bacharach collaborations. From “Just a Gigolo” to “Blowin’ In The Wind,” every musical moment is not to be missed.

BroadwayWorld's Sharon Ellman wrote of the January show, "Ute Lemper is an amazing storyteller.  Through her recreation of that 1988 “telephone conversation” with the late diva she beautifully unfolded each episode in the complex life of Dietrich punctuated by song." (Read the full review of the show here.) 

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Learn more about Ute at www.utelemper.com

Find more upcoming shows at 54 Below on their website here.

See photos from Friday September 18 below snapped by photographer Conor Weiss.