Jennifer Ward-Lealand - Falling in Love Again

at The Famous Spiegeltent, 14 March 2007.

In Falling in Love Again, Jennifer Ward-Lealand is an actor playing a role, the role is an extraordinary observation of the great Marlene Deitrich. An actor playing a role must become brilliant at what an audience understands about the subject. This requires Jennifer Ward-Lealand not just to be able to project being Marlene but she managed to sound convincingly enough that you could play in this fantasy world, the fully authentic Spiegeltent that Marlene herself graced in the 1930s.

This was not so much "art as imitation", interpretation or representation, but this spiritually extended the value of it's original, Jennifer Ward-Lealand was able to inhabit our idea of Marlene Dietrich and with perfect timing and voice, she performed great numbers including delightful versions of the show title song.

After which the audience gave her a standing ovation, before they left the art deco authenticity of The Famous Spiegeltent.

This was one of those spine tingling performances that holds the audience in a rapture where time becomes irrelevant. Ward-Lealand entered, stood in a great big white fur and jewels, still, and moved the audience, some, to tears.