Rendezvous with Claire Waldoff. A tribute to the great Berlin comedian with "Chanson-Nette" Jeannette Urzendowsky and Harry Ermer at the piano.
“What men can do, we’ve been able to do for a long time—and maybe a whole lot more!” she sang as early as the mid-1920s in her chanson “Get the Men Out of the Reichstag.” Even during the imperial era, “Waldoff” was an icon of the unconventional.
Image gallery
Ach Jott, wat sind die Männer dumm!
Earlier than many others, she sang of feminism, free love, and a free life—not as a vamp, not to cater to men’s fantasies, but as a woman who was inherently feminine and self-assured. At first, she was seen as a young rebel from Gelsenkirchen on the Lower Rhine; later, as the queen of cabaret, she shaped the image of the sassy Berlin brat.
"Chanson-Nette" Jeannette Urzendowsky is a "Berlin native" from the Friedrichshain neighborhood.
In a duo with Tal Balshai on piano, she takes her audience back to the time when Claire became a legend. She doesn’t imitate her, but rather, in her own way, evokes the great comedienne born in 1884, her many facets, and the different phases of her life. Claire was youthful and tender, sassy, tomboyish, self-assured, and vulnerable.
The program features many popular chansons and rarer songs from Claire Waldoff’s repertoire. "Ach Jott, wat sind die Männer dumm!", "Die Großstadtpflanze", "Das Dornröschen vom Wedding", and "Raus mit den Männern aus dem Reichstag" fill this evening for all fans of intelligent, timeless humor. And of course, Chanson-Nette tells many stories from Claire’s life with her authentic Berlin wit.
Many of her signature pieces were created and performed by artists with Jewish roots; many of these people were persecuted by the Nazis after 1933. That is why the tribute to Claire Waldoff is also an “evening against forgetting.” This is particularly close to Jeannette Urzendowsky’s heart: she is an honorary ambassador of the German Cabaret Archive.
The Berlin Tagesspiegel writes about Chanson-Nette: “There are few artists who can embody a Berlin original so convincingly.”
Additional information
The Theater im Palais: A small stage, great literature, cabaret, classical music—and Berlin, time and again. That’s the essence of the Theater im Palais (TiP).
Right on Unter den Linden Boulevard, in the heart of the city, classics, cabaret, and variety shows—often interwoven with music and stories about Berlin—are brought to the stage. With just under 100 seats, a charming atmosphere is created: variety at its best—right in the middle of Berlin!
And salon culture! Yes, there’s also a cozy theater bar, which opens an hour before the show begins.
The theater has been located in the Palais am Festungsgraben since 1991, right behind Schinkel’s Neue Wache. Since 2022, Alina Gause has served as artistic director at the TiP alongside her dedicated team. Since then, the theater has evolved into an exciting venue for new discoveries. The current annual theme is: “The Power of Women”
Accessibility
The Theater im Palais is fully accessible, with the exception of a small flight of stairs at the entrance
Participating artists
Chanson-Nette
Tal Balshai
Dates
August 2026
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