The blue angel
With a show celebrating the life of Dietrich, Caroline Nin tells Andrew P Street about discovering a forgotten Marlene
Caroline Nin might lament that she's set to miss the French summer this year, but she acknowledges that
Sydney's likely grey, overcast skies will better suit the shadowy late-night mood of her upcoming show.
"I think it will be perfect," she says in fluent, if idiomatic, English. "If it's too beautiful weather you don't really want to go out to a theatre, but also it goes with the feel of the show."
Marlene Dietrich shows are hardly a rarity in the world of cabaret, but Blue Hours Of The Angel Marlene takes an unexpected twist: rather than focusing on the siren of The Blue Angel or Shanghai Express, Nin focuses on Dietrich's work for the Allied war effort during World War II.
"It started with a meeting I had with Julia Holt, the director of the [Cabaret] festival in Adelaide," Nin explains. "I wanted to concentrate on her work during the war, and she thought that was a very good idea because people don't really know what [Marlene] had done: that she was in the army and spent 18 months in the front in Germany against her people.
"I cover her entire career, but I've put my own touch to it. It's quite dramatic. She was a spy for the OSS [Office of Strategic Services], which became the CIA, and she was doing propaganda on the radio."
It's a period that's been glossed over by history, which Nin finds perplexing. "I don't know why. If you get the interview of an ex-CIA agent who's in their 80s or 90s now talking about Dietrich being sought as a spy by the American army, and going to get her missions in New York, all very well explained, it means it existed."
Audiences shouldn't expect a lecture on Marlene's WWII activities, though. "I'm not going on about that for hours or anything - there's just a hint in the show, because there are so many songs, and so much humour. Humour and drama. It's like Edith Piaf, with a different aura and voice."
It's the voice that is surely the hardest thing to capture: while Dietrich was charismatic and a captivating performer, she wasn't a great singer, which, for a performer of effortless range like Nin, poses challenges. "It's been very difficult," she laughs. "And all her songs are at the same pace; they're all kind of ballady. All the songs that are up-tempo are a bit naff. I haven't done the show yet, but I'll love to see the audience reaction."
Does this mean the Sydney season is the world premiere?"Yes. It's the debut of the show and the Dietrich album," she laughs. "You guys have the exclusivity!"
Caroline Nin's Blue Hours of the Angel Marlene is at the Opera House until Sat 5 July