Ultimo tango. Musical journey from Buenos Aires to Paris, from Berlin to New York. The show was a tribute to the composer who represents the international side of tango, the inspiration of the Nuevo Tango, Astor Piazzolla.

‘‘If music does not evolve it dies, like the water rots when it does not flow'' he once said and his tango has always been addressed to the ears and not the legs, while he never wrote music for export or for tourists, but for himself without making compromises.

The unforgettable pioneer who gave tango a European style was the opportunity for Ute Lemper to present to us the tango of large cities, of isolation and loneliness.

Singer, dancer, actress, composer, lyricist, painter and model Ute Lemper needs the stage as the air she breathes to share with the audience, to provoke, to comment on freedom, love and conservatism.

Born in 1963 in Munster she was described as a ‘‘terrific child''.  She won recognition with her unique interpretations in musicals, cabaret, rock, jazz. For Lola in “Blue Angel'' they called her the new Marlene Dietrich. Chicago gave her the prize “ Laurence Olivier'', Cabaret the prize “Moliere’’ and the Billboard proclaimed her Artist of the Year 1994. She collaborated with Peter Greenaway in “Prospero’s Books’’ and Robert Altman in “Prêt a Porter''. She loved the legendary German Marlene, but also the little sparrow who sang her sorrows over the house roofs , Edith Piaf  and presented her songs in her own way. She performed amazingly Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill, Leo Ferre, Jacques Brel, Joni Mitchell and also Michael Nyman, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Philip Glass, Nick Cave.

Many years ago she met Piazzolla in Paris and was enchanted, but it was recently when she began working with a musician who played the bandoneon, that she entered the atmosphere of tango. The performance ''Ultimo tango'' was a natural consequence.

The artist with many faces led us into streets filled with the beauty of yesterday with today's view, breathing life into old songs with a contemporary, realistic and non melodramatic viewpoint.  In search of the identity of our days we travelled in lonely cities, with time recording the changes and losses, with songs about love, betrayal, fear of abandonment. She presented her own tango, a sad thought that can be danced, addressed to the senses and mind. Lying or sitting at the piano, looking us in the eyes or turning her back with her body to express all the emotions,a fatal woman with the sensuality of illusion, singing, talking, dancing for two hours without a break, immobilizing us and as time was passing without realising it Maria of Buenos Aires was becoming  Jenny of pirates, Lily Marlene. The faces and languages did not play any role, you wanted to stay there where music was playing and enjoy and the show continued. Sad and serious, comical and restless balancing between low and high notes Ute Lemper presented her stories using every means of expression and communication and nobody wanted to leave this cabaret and return to reality.

Renata Dikeopoulou 22 February 2010