New Tiger Lillies CD 'Lulu - A Murder Ballad' coming in 2014

The new Tiger Lillies CD Lulu - A Murder Ballad is set for release in 2014, according the musical group's website. "In the new year The Tiger Lillies will premiere a new show 'Lulu - A Murder Ballad' which will tour in the UK. Inspired by the classic film Pandora's Box (starring Louise Brooks) and Berg's opera Lulu, the show features a whole new cycle of songs, stunning virtual sets by Mark Holthusen (who also created The Ancient Mariner with the band) and is produced by Opera North. Please check the TOUR section of the site for the dates. A CD of the music will be released in conjunction with the premiere of the show."

"The character of Lulu is one of the great creations of 20th Century fiction, and one of its most disturbing. Her unbridled sex appeal, her youth, and her self-destructiveness combine to make her dangerous, unpredictable and tragic. With the men (and the women) who circle her, Lulu’s journey from street prostitute to the toast of Society and back again, is told as a hypnotic and kaleidoscopic dance of death. Journey with her from Berlin to Paris and finally to the dark London streets of Jack The Ripper. 

The band’s flamboyant live performance is enhanced by large-scale virtual sets that create an immersive and richly atmospheric environment. Across 20 songs and interludes, the ballad of Lulu unfolds as an uncompromising musical and visual melodrama."

Written by Martyn Jacques.

Directed and Designed by Mark Holthusen.

Performed by The Tiger Lillies and Laura Caldow. Based on Frank Wedekind’s plays,
Earth Spirit (1895) and Pandora’s Box (1904)

Commissioned by Opera North Projects

Tiger Lillies to release Lulu, homage to Pandora's Box and Louise Brooks

The Tiger Lillies are a British Grammy-nominated three piece band with a cult following who have toured the world with works of musical theater including Shockheaded Peter and The Gorey End; they have also released nearly 30 CDs, and, it turns out, been inspired by Louise Brooks.

Due out soon is Lulu, their homage to the actress and her role as Lulu in Pandora's Box. Here is a video clip, shot in Russia, this past September. The Tiger Lillies are seen performing a song (or two) from their forthcoming release.

According to an article in the St Petersburg Times (a Russian newspaper)

Speaking in a backroom of Helsinkibar during the band’s September visit, Jacques said the new album and show, “Lulu – A Murder Ballad,” is based on Frank Wedekind’s plays,“Earth Spirit” (1895) and “Pandora’s Box” (1904).

The plays follow Lulu, a social climber turned prostitute in Berlin, Paris and London at the turn of the century, and inspired Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s 1929 silent film “Die Büchse der Pandora” (Pandora’s Box) starring Louise Brooks as Lulu. The plays also served as inspiration for Austrian composer Alban Berg’s 1935 opera “Lulu,” which was left uncompleted at the time of the composer’s death and premiered as a complete opera nearly forty-four years after Berg’s death. A collaborative album by Lou Reed and Metallica, “Lulu,” was also inspired by the plays and was released to mixed reviews in 2011. “We’ll do quite a lot of ‘Lulu’ songs,” Jacques told The St. Petersburg Times.

Commissioned by Opera North, the national opera company for the north of England and written by Jacques, the 20-song show “Lulu – A Murder Ballad” will premiere in London in January.