Ute Lemper: «My Marlene Dietrich. When I spoke to her 30 years ago, she was sad not to be able to return to Germany “

Ute, what did you and Marlene say to each other in that phone call?

“That’s where my show turns. We talked about his life, made of magic and torment, up to the deeply conflicting relationship with Germany. After I won the Molière Prize for my performance in Cabaret, I sent a postcard to Marlene, apologizing for the media attention given by the fact that they constantly compared me to her. I remember finding her deeply melancholy and embittered. In those years she could not return to her home in Germany. She had been expelled for political reasons, despite the fact that she had done a lot to protect and safeguard the human rights of many people. She rightly wanted to go back to the place where she had grown up: “they don’t want me anymore” she repeated. She has always been a sarcastic, ironic, over the top woman. That sadness of her was tangible and very painful in the eyes of those who loved her. Her relationship with her homeland was the real drama of her life. She was closely tied to the German identity but she always kept very far from approaching the principles of Nazism ».

How much of Dietrich is there in you?

«I certainly can’t think of reaching that level of glamor and charm, but in Marlene I have always sought and found inspiration. Elegance, class, emancipation, courage: a feminine woman like few others, whom she reasoned like a man. We have lived through two different times, but with the same mission, a strong responsibility towards others. And then the story of our land, of the part made up of lights and the one in shadow, dramatic. Perhaps it is in the second part of my life that I have found more points of contact, starting with the construction of our lives far from Germany ».

He gets excited to tell it.

«Always, and a lot. It is an honor to share the story of a woman who anticipated her times with her progressive, emancipated vision of her. Who, with her open-mindedness, made the encounter between genres fluid and homogeneous. She has never submitted to male prevarication, she has always rejected the concept of submission, seeking the way of the just. A free spirit, for real, with the power to give voice to the female universe when no one was yet, full of incredible courage. We would have a lot to learn, she would be a perfect woman of our times ».

And her, who did you learn the trade from?

“At home you could breathe music at all times, this was certainly inspiring. My parents were very simple people and perhaps a little intimidated by the mechanism of the entertainment world which seemed to be so much bigger than them. Both bankers, my mother sang the opera while my father danced and played various instruments. They wanted me to be a teacher, but here I am. I had to break rules and expectations to make that passion a career. I packed my bags and from my small town I went to build my future ».

Rebellious, and a bit of a dreamer too. Is she too with her four children?

«I am for freedom, it could not be otherwise. It starts with a good culture, takes care of the soul, to get anywhere ».

In New York, the city where you live, do you feel free?

«It is a multicultural, stimulating city, perfect for feeding an artist’s head. Everything is always “on”, on the innovation, vision, creativity side ».

His repertoire ranges from Brecht, Weimar, Paul Celan to Neruda, Bukowski, Coelho …

«I would say the necessary contamination. I’m curious, I never get tired of seeing and knowing. I try to propose new things, not yet seen and not even heard. I have done projects with many artists, it is true, I count not to stop because every time it is a lit button on a beautiful story ».

Bright like the colors of your paintings, do you still paint?

“Not anymore, for ten years now. I focused on music and my children. But inside the color I have hidden many times, it is a world where I took refuge to create and give life to a new creative drive. As in a circle, feeding on its own strength. Maybe I’ll start again, now that I have to concentrate less as a mother ».

«I reply that you are constant inspiration. I have many memories related to culture, to the magnetism of your personality. I love Fellini’s and Pasolini’s cinema, the atmospheres of their worlds. And then Milva, I grew up with her image of her in her eyes and the warm tones of her vibrato, in Germany she is very much loved. She is perhaps one of the few Italian singers to have worked both in the world of pop music and in the theater, the busy one of Brecht and Strehler. Then I certainly don’t forget Enzo Jannacci and that time at the Sanremo Festival when I sang his Photograph, it was 1991. What a thrill, it’s time to go back ».

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