I had expected an evening of German cabaret. What one actually gets in this one-woman show is a mixture of songfest and gabfest in which Weimar classics, Kander and Ebb numbers, and even a Piaf standard are accompanied by a free-association monologue.

It is all rather overwhelming, reminding me of the man who said of Carlyle's conversation that it was all very well but one would not choose to live under a waterfall.

You have to admit that, both physically and vocally, Lemper is astonishing. At first, in a tight-fitting black number, she looks a little like Webster's "bony lady" but, as she sheds her outer garments to reveal those famous soaring legs, she shows herself to be lithe.

Vocally, she also slides between raucous, can-belto, teeth-baring rendering of songs like Spoliansky's I Am A Vamp, to a more muted, melancholic, and haunting delivery of Weill and Brecht's Surabaya Johnny.

Lemper has as much natural talent as anyone on the cabaret circuit today. But she tends to impose herself on a song rather than, as the truly great singers do, surrender to the meaning of the lyrics. And her chat veers between the rich and the rambling.

She is genuinely funny when describing her back-breaking auditions for Chicago or making waspish comments about the capitals of Europe ("In Vienna they think the Kaiser is still alive"). At other times, as when she talks about religion, we seem to be eavesdropping on some purely private confessional.

Significantly, no director is credited - though Bruno Fontaine masterminds the musical side of things from the piano. But precisely because Lemper can do just about anything, and at different times seems to be assuming the mantle of Dietrich, Piaf, and Minnelli, one wishes someone would harness her energies and force her to do what she does best: just stand and sing some of the great Weimar numbers.

In Chicago she was amazing because she was disciplined by the role: on her own, she is still phenomenal but seems the victim of her own restless virtuosity.

***** Unmissable **** Recommended *** Enjoyable ** Mediocre * Terrible