Back when I was a kid in the 60s, I remember the tune Cabaret was everywhere on every variety show on TV--it seemed like such fun. "Life is a Cabaret, old chum!" and all that. Needless to say, when I finally got to see the film of the musical in the 70s, I was a little surprised (I did get to see Joel Gray in a touring production many years later). In my naive young mind of those years, I had somehow equated cabaret shows with what I'd imagined vaudeville to be like, and this film was not what I had imagined. Another few years go by and I saw The Three Penny Opera -- once again, I was startled. The opening number, Ballad of Mack the Knife, was nothing like the Bobby Darrin/Louis Armstrong versions we had in our record collection. And the rest of the play! Yikes! Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill... and their history with German Kabarett and having to leave Germany in the 1930s...one account I've read sums up the philosophical question of the play as "who is worse, the bank robbers or the bankers?" Here is a sample of Mackie Messer that will set the mood for the rest of this diary.
In Europe, and Germany in particular, there was cabaret (stories, songs, humor for sheer entertainment), and kabarett (stories and songs which made not so veiled commentary on society and politics). Brecht/Weill were definitely writing kabarett with a "K" ... and their work was not popular with Hitler and his admirers. Brecht and Weill fled Germany with the rise of the Nazis to power. The musical Cabaret is really representative of Kabarett culture. However, I didn't begin to connect these dots during the pre-Internet 1980s
Then in the mid-1990s, I saw Ute Lemper in concert with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, doing a program of Kurt Weill tunes. The bio in the program indicated she was a German singer/actress who was currently specializing in the music of the German and French cabarets of the 1920s. I've since learned that she starred as Sally Bowles in the original French production of Cabaret. Did you know that Kurt Weil's wife, Lotte Lenya, had a role in the original Broadway production? Cabaret, that was Kander and Ebb, wasn't it? What was that other Kander and Ebb show that dealt with Vaudeville and murderers...oh yeah, Chicago. Did you know that Ute Lemper starred as Velma Kelly in the London production of Chicago? Coincidence? Maybe, but at least it gives a good excuse for this diary! Before indulging in some great music, here is a recent interview with Ute where, among other things, she talks about her interest in kabarett, noting some scary parallels Kossacks would recognize:
Follow me below the orange Itzl for more.
It's difficult to find good videos of Ute online that are embeddable, but here is a recent live performance medley. Ok, this was done by a guy in the audience, so not so great great sound-wise, but you certainly get an idea of her stage presence
This is another tune from Threepenny:
Here are some other examples of her work, ranging from the songs of Brecht/Weill to Edith Piaf standards:
I found a cool interview on how she got involved with the Chicago productions:
A brief interruption here to watch her in the role of Velma
The interview goes on to compare and contrast her thoughts on Velma Kelly vs Sally Bowles
A little more on how she brings her craft to life
a medley
Just for Youffraita, a little Sondheim, with a bit of nostalgia for great female actors:
Now for the big finish