As she settles in her dressing room, Marlene barks orders at her long time helpmate Mutti (Mary Diveny) and alternately thanks then scolds her "assistant" Vivian (Margaret Whitton) who has come Paris to help Marlene with makeup and other production issues.  The audience sees a woman who is an enormous talent in film and in performance who is not quite sure she "has what it takes" anymore.  Self-doubt and self-absorption seem to co-exist in Marlene's conscious and non-conscious worlds ("I am an old woman.") and she depends heavily on those around her to give her the attention and affirmation she needs to survive.  It is as though approval were something like oxygen for this aging superstar, with Mutti and Vivian strapped on her back like oxygen tanks on a deep sea diver.
 
Pam Gems' script gives us considerable detail about Marlene's career and personal life and all the "important" people Marlene knew or had relationships (of one sort or another) with, including  Piaf, Papa Hemingway, and Frank Sinatra.  We also learn about Ms. Dietrich's bouts with anxiety and her stalwart refusal to depend on medication for relief of her "stage fright" and what would seem like depression.
 
In the musical's second act, the audience becomes the audience for Marlene's Paris performance and Sian Phillips shines in this role.  When Ms. Phillips stands in front of the microphone, space and time give way to illusion and we are pleasantly fooled again and again, believing beyond belief we are in the presence of one of time's greatest talents.  Before the performance, Ms. Dietrich tells Vivian, "Let's see if we can fool them one more time."  She always did.  And Ms. Phillips does.  Completely.
 
Sian Phillips gives us a Marlene Dietrich that lives the question "how do you survive without he worship, the adoration?"  And a Dietrich who remembers so well the literal love affair she had with the camera.  In fact, it seems that Marlene Dietrich could only truly love and be loved by the camera, at least in Pam Gems' rendering.  Marlene seems to keep everyone else at a distance. Including Vivian, played wonderfully here by Margaret Whitton.  Vivian adores Marlene and would do anything to earn her trust and her love.  Mary Diveny's Mutti walks about the dressing room looking as though the memories of Dachau are present in every breath she takes.  Her performance is chilling, as it should be.  Perhaps somewhere in the recesses of her silence are the real understandings of what makes Marlene "tick."
 
The creative team does an admirable job as do the on-stage musicians.  Sometimes Sean Mathias' staging seems odd, but mostly he works well with the cast and the space.  I often wondered if this little gem might do better in a smaller house.  It deserves some attention.

Reviewed on Friday, April 23, 1999 (Opened on Sunday, April 11, 1999)

"MARLENE"
 
By Pam Gems.  Directed by Sean Mathias.  Set design by John Arnone; costume design by David C. Woolard; lighting design by Mark Jonathan; sound design by Peter J. Fitzgerald; musical direction by Kevin Amos; production stage manager, Arthur Gaffin.  Presented by Ric Wanetik and Frederic B. Vogel at the Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.  Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m.; Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00 p.m.; Sunday at 3:00 p.m.  Tickets are $15.00 to $60.00 and an be reserved by calling 212-239-6200 or by clicking on "Purchase Tickets" above.
 
WITH: Mary Diveny (Mutti), Sian Phillips (Marlene Dietrich), and Margaret Whitton (Vivian).

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